My Fantasy Experience vs. CCL

[Danmangto]

Our servers have not been too intrusive about this, generally only mentioning ratings at the last service. Which I think is fine, given the importance of those ratings to them.

What I didn't like was the pressure to rate the food well as that apparently reflects on them too. Yes, I understand they're supposed to recommend things I like but...I try nearly 50 main dining room courses during a seven week cruise. Of them, perhaps two would be something I would be happy to serve in my restaurant (don't have a restaurant...just saying). Given that I think less than 5% of your food is anything resembling 'excellent', it's pretty unlikely that any server is going to recommend four things I like every night.

So I give the food the 2/5 rating it deserves, and if the servers do well I give them 5/5 ratings and mention them on the comment card. Hope that's helpful to them...it's not their fault the food is bad.

Agreed. Our servers gave us the speech about their ratings and how important they were which I find to be a bit tacky the way it was done. The food on our recent cruise was hit or miss. Some was decent, some of it not that good. I'm biased because I'm use to eating at very good restaurants/steakhouses in and around New York City. DCL doesn't compare to them with their cuts of beef or how it's cooked.

 

[buckeyemom16]

I am enjoying reading everyone's feedback. I want to address one thing, I never truly did say which line I prefer. The honest answer is both. There were enough positives on DCL which is why we'll probably return but there wasn't enough to completely win me over. I've never had a perfect CCL cruise and I doubt anyone has ever had a perfect DCL cruise. Travel is like that! I do like to have choices and am glad we tried it out. I am also super grateful to be able to grant DD's wish to try a Disney cruise.

To the PP that stated about the thread of little things DCL does--I've read through most of that thread and other cruise lines do the majority of it or we didn't experience it! This is why I wasn't won over.

I also wanted to add a couple more things I thought about:

Midnight PremEAR of Brave was totally awesome!! DD had so much fun! That is an experience I couldn't get on CCL.

A note on tips: Full tips were added to my DS1.5's account. I don't have a problem with this and I absolutely do think everyone deserved tips from him. But as a comparison on CCL last year we were told no tips for guests 2 or under. We ended up tipping everyone extra which probably almost made up for it.

 

[Danmangto]

This has been a very informative thread. We were also on the same cruise and it was our 4th DCL cruise. We want to try another line, but our entire family loves Disney. We can forget about reality and live in fantasy (and Fantasy) for a week. Except for Remy, we found dining much more pleasant on the Magic (size?). We always felt rushed and it was noisy and crowded. After not being able to chew a very tough steak, I stuck to fish or vegetarian. Sometimes just the first two courses were enough, if I did dessert. Elevators were never a problem until we wanted to go to Overlook one night. Only one elevator goes to Deck 14 and it took us so long to finally get there that the pianist had finished. Since our children are grown and we don't have to worry about the grandchildren, we like the adult night spots. Nothing on Fantasy compares to Sessions, which we really liked. Maybe someday we will be brave enough to try another line, but DCL is now like family.

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I can understand the longer dining time. In January my brothers families, my parents and ourselves traveled on the wonder. We were a party of 11. Dinner most nights took a full 2 hours. We were usually the last to leave the dinning room. My brother after the 2nd night started taking the kids to the clubs after the appetizer came since they were usually bored. I think it really depends on who you get as your servers. The food to everyone else tables came quick course after course. Our drinks were never refilled after our app's without asking for it. Hands down it was the slowest service we have ever had on Disney or any ship.

You actually made my point. If your dinner took a full 2 hours and you were the last to leave the dining room, that means everyone else's meal took less than 2 hours. I am not saying that it never happens as it has even happened to us on occassion (Disney Wonder - group of 12 with two severe food allergies and visits by Chefs and Head Server to ensure that the allergies were addressed for the courses), but it's not as common as it may seem on this thread.

 

[buckeyemom16]

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

This

Even worse when able bodied people, especially kids, get on and ride one floor DOWN!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

That's a bit rude & judgmental IMO. How do you know others situations as to whether or not they are "able bodied" or not? I agree that it can be frustrating when someone gets on an elevator just to go up one floor, but I'm not going to judge them as I don't know if there is a reason. I have gout and often, my knees are swollen where I can walk but stairs kill me. You couldn't see it visibly from how I walk unless you saw me go down stairs. Going down is harder than going up.

Elevator etiquette will always be controversial. My DW had to remind me to just chill out as we're on holiday.

 

[reimero]

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

Funny. When we were on the Fantasy in May, we really only ran into heavy elevator use right at the point of embarkation and at one or two other very heavy-use periods, and even there, it was the midships elevators. The forward elevators were almost never crowded. That said, my DW and I almost always took the stairs because we had agreed between ourselves we'd try to get some exercise that way.

To be clear: I'm not disputing the claim that elevators tend to get over-used; I'm simply saying that on our cruise, some of the elevators were not crowded.

 

[justmestace]

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

I've seen teens and young, healthy adults do this, too and it drives me NUTS.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, and it has nothing to do with one cruise line over another, but I stay in an HA room. I don't use a walker or a wheelchair, but I can't do stairs, and I need the level surfaces and grab bars, etc.
After the lifeboat drill, I use the elevator. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing able-bodied people cramming the elevators after the drill.

On one cruise line, I think it was NCL.....they had a CM standing at the only elevator that was in use during the drill, and he/she directed the able-bodied to the stairs.


I wanted to add.......my physical limitations are NOT visible to anyone.....so yes, I've gotten the "stink-eye" quite a few times when I've gotten onto the elevator after the drill. I've learned to ignore it.

 

[shaycamp21]

I have to admit I felt that way after our first cruise on the Wonder. Service was good, don't get me wrong but after reading all the reports here on the boards I was expecting to be blown away but wasn't. Our second cruise on the Wonder was the same good, but nothing over the top special, but this time I wasn't as disppointed.The food for in MDR was fairly good, I do remember being underwhelmed by the appetizers but the mains were quite good. Both cruises we dined in Palo (dinner 2x and brunch 1x) and it was an amazing experience for dinner but brunch didn't wow me as much as I expected (in terms of food) but service was always excellent! We then cruised on NCL in Hawaii and were blown away how bad the service (and the food) was in the MDR (most servers were surly college age kids from the US). Food and service in the speciality restaurants was more on par with DCL's MDR but you had to pay anywhere for $15-25 pp (and you could bring kids so there was no where for a romantic adults-only dinner.

Fast forward now to our experience on the Fantasy--we were blown away by the service. Our serving team was wonderful, friendly (taking time to get to know us) and efficient. We never waited long between courses (early seating), plates were always cleared, crumbs swept away, glasses were never empty, they would cut up DH's meat as he was often holding our youngest dd. Some of the special touches: oldest dd 13 was a bit of a grump one evening and server did a little magic show and created an orgami flower out of the menus--brought a smile to her face and cheered her up, our littlest one (9months) kept grabbing for desserts (never thought to order her one) and they brought out two tiny cupcakes which she had fun eating and squishing and they made a big deal of my dad's birthday. I guess it is just luck of the draw with your serving team and this time we really lucked out.

We also did Palo and Remy on the Fantasy. Our Palo server was one we had on the Wonder and amazingly he remembered us. Brunch was so much better for me on this cruise-- we were absolutely stuffed and when Dh asked to have his leftover pizza wrapped up for our dds our server had a fresh one made and the night we did dinner also surprised us with a dessert to take back for our dds. The Remy experience all I can say is wow--fantastic service and food was simply exquistite.

All that said, I am not sure the next time we'll be able to do DCL as we normally have to travel during peak season (I am on Maternity leave now so it was the first time I could travel at a nonpeak time) DCL's prices during those times are really high so we'll see. Thanks for your honest review. I have often considered CCL.

 

[justmestace]

For once I'm not going to get into the debate about which cruise line is better, worse, whatever.....BUT......

I think it makes a huge difference WHICH ship you're on, and also itinerary.

I think the experience, especially dining, was FAR better on the Magic and Wonder than on the new Dream. I liked Animators the way it was, not with my head spinning to see where Nemo is now.

The other cruise lines, again, depends on the ship, IMO. The newer Carnival ships are really, really awesome.

Had good experiences on the old and the newer NCL ships, but "different" types of good experiences.

Sailed Princess' Caribbean Princess and wasn't impressed at all....although I imagine others would feel much differently.

It's all subjective.

 

[BoosGram]

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

I agree that many people who take the elevator don't have to, but I think you have to try not to make judgements because you just don't know. The person who went up only one floor may have some condition, like an autoimmune disease, that makes it very difficult, if not downright impossible, to climb stairs. Yet, on the outside, they look perfectly normal. I'm just saying...

I think the experience, especially dining, was FAR better on the Magic and Wonder than on the new Dream.

It's all subjective.

In the past, I would have agreed, but our last cruise was the inaugural Hawaiian cruise on the Wonder, and we've never had worse food on a cruise (and it makes me very sad to say this). The epitome of what I experienced was being served pancakes at a Triton brunch that I couldn't cut with a knife. Literally. So I'm hoping that they iron some of the wrinkles out and that the food on the Fantasy will be fantastic in Sept. when we go.

And it IS all subjective.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

In the past, I would have agreed, but our last cruise was the inaugural Hawaiian cruise on the Wonder, and we've never had worse food on a cruise (and it makes me very sad to say this). The epitome of what I experienced was being served pancakes at a Triton brunch that I couldn't cut with a knife. Literally. So I'm hoping that they iron some of the wrinkles out and that the food on the Fantasy will be fantastic in Sept. when we go.

And it IS all subjective.

FWIW: We thought the food on the Fantasy (June 2012) was better than the Wonder (March 2010 and September 2010 4-Night cruises). But as you said, it is all subjective.

 

[La2kw]

How can they get away with 2.5 hr meals? With so many young kids, that is just begging for disaster. There is no way that my 4 yr old could sit through a meal that long. We are trying to decide if DCL is worth it for us and when I hear something like that it gives me great pause. It wouldn't be so bad if they offered a buffet for dinner so we could come and go as we please. It seems options are limited if you don't want to do the MDR meals. And, if food quality is sub-par on top of that, what am I paying a premium for?

On our last Dream cruise, our waiter asked us how his service was. We told him it was too slow and he tried to speed it up a bit. I wouldn't call the food sub par, but we enjoy CCL's food much more. What you are paying for is the Disney name, all the kids clubs and activities, the cheesy Disney shows, and the beautiful ship. If you are going to Castaway Cay, that is also the best private island experience I have ever done. Overall, we find CCL to be lots more fun, way less pretentious, and obviously a much better value. The children on board are also much better behaved.

 

[La2kw]

For once I'm not going to get into the debate about which cruise line is better, worse, whatever.....BUT......

I think it makes a huge difference WHICH ship you're on, and also itinerary.

I think the experience, especially dining, was FAR better on the Magic and Wonder than on the new Dream. I liked Animators the way it was, not with my head spinning to see where Nemo is now.

The other cruise lines, again, depends on the ship, IMO. The newer Carnival ships are really, really awesome.

Had good experiences on the old and the newer NCL ships, but "different" types of good experiences.

Sailed Princess' Caribbean Princess and wasn't impressed at all....although I imagine others would feel much differently.

It's all subjective.

We love the Wonder. The Dream was so, so.

 

[La2kw]

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

As far as I know, elevators are for everyone's use. Just because you are a parent, or have a stroller, doesn't mean you need it more. I've seen plenty of strollers with kids in them who could easily be walking, hogging up elevator space.

My peeve is someone who takes an elevator down one floor, lol.

 

[La2kw]

WE have done 3 DCL's in the past. My DH was "over" paying premium prices for DCL and said he would never do another one. We went on CCL Liberty last summer. Ship, cheap looking. Food, overall better than DCL with the exception of the Harry's Steakhouse, TERRIBLE. People, not what I want to be around. Still to party animal for my liking. The night time entertainment, terrible for kids. Didn't like that there weren't any of the little snack places around the pool like there are on DCL. I hated going into the buffet for everything.

SErvice was pretty good, cabin steward was fantastic. Our waiters left a lot to be desired. No personality what so ever, DD was completely forgotten on formal night and the other 4 of us sat there with our food getting cold because al the waiters went off to sing their stupid little song. There was no one around to flag down to get her food. Finally they stopped by to see if everything was ok, no apology no nothing and our food had gotten cold.

Leaving the ship took forever, and we could not wait to get off that boat. Needles to say, my DH is eating his words and we are back on DCL fantasy this coming June, I will never cruise anything else. It isn't worth risking what I consider a large chunk of change for something that I may not enjoy.

Also, I actually enjoy long dinners and so do my kids. There were brought up that way. To us dinning is an experience and not just about stuffing your face, although we do enjoy that also. I know not everyone feels that way, but we do enjoy it.

I keep coming back to add things.. I see where the OP stated that they hadn't been to CCL's private Island and I forgot to add this, It is FANTASTIC. I think if must be right "down the road" from Castaway Cay. It has the same wonderful deserted feel with white sand and crystal blue water. The food on CCL's Island does lose out to DCL and well as their seating arrangement. We also had a cabana, which was a lot cheaper on CCL and it was heaven on earth.

Liberty now has Guy's (Fieri) Burger Joint and Blue Iguana Cantina around the pool. Those are both way, way better than any of the fast food theme park slop DCL serves around the pool. The buffet area also has a custom order stir fry station, a deli with made to order sandwiches, and a fish and chips joint. It's like a food court, not just a buffet. There's also 24 hour room service and a sushi bar on the promenade deck. We thought the choices were much better than DCL.

 

[Rai's Mommy]

I don't know where these 2.5 hour dinner comments are coming from. Even 2 hours is long for DCL in our experience. 90 to 115 minutes seems normal for the late dinner and with no small kids, our table was often the last one served. The tables with younger kids seemed to move faster than ours service wise.

Maybe this is like the main thread about bus waits. A 20 minute bus wait often gets reported as 45 minutes because it felt that way to some. 2.5 hours for main dining is impossible as the late diners are there by then. 2.5 hours for late dining would be very rare given our experiences. Even 2 hours is rare given that the dining room was empty at that mark the one time we did a 2 hour meal.

The food and dining was definitely not at the top of my list from our recent amazing time on the Fantasy. My DD12 and I were on the Fantasy with late dining in May and encountered this problem almost every night. We rarely were out of the dining room by 10 p.m. and are pretty simple eaters. The most we had at any dinner was one appetizer, one entree and desert. I know this was not a matter of 1 hour feeling like 2 hours because my DD kept missing activities that she wanted to do at 9:30 and being late for those that started at 10. That said, we arrived about 20 minutes late to our dining on her birthday (the only night we arrived late) because we had been waiting to get pics done in the lobby and wanted to be finished with our dining by 9:20 as I wanted to make sure she got to the 9:30 activity she wanted that night as it was her birthday and even with the addition of singing "Happy Birthday" our servers made sure that this was accomodated All it took was my speaking up. I ran in at our assigned dining time to let them know that we were running late because we were waiting to have pics done, that we were still going to be dining with them and that the only two things I really cared about were having her get cake and getting out by 9:20. They quickly grabbed a menu for me to pick my entree (I insisted on skipping an appetizer and they already knew my DD would be having her usual chicken fingers) and when we arrived after the pics they were ready for us and did a fantastic job of not only getting us out quickly but also making my DD feel special by getting a good number of servers and everyone near us to join in on singing "Happy Birthday".

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Thank you for posting this. We just got off the Dream and though we enjoyed it, I didn't leave with that "OMG, I have to do this again!" feeling like I have when I leave WDW. We did rebook a dummy date onboard for the benefits, but I'm not sure we'll use it. If we cruise again it will either be out of Galveston so we can at least save on airfare or a lower cost cruiseline, because even though our DCL cruise was fun, I could have taken two vacations for the price I spent on that one.

We found that our servers in the main dining rooms were awesome, one of the highlights of our trip. But I can totally see how this is luck of the draw. The food was good and plentiful, but not great. Most was very forgetable, I'd even go so far as to say the desserts were just bad, very bland. Mickey bars were the best tasting option. It was fun getting to try new foods, like escargot and wild boar, but very few wow moments for food.

Then again, there are somethings that I worry I'll miss on another cruiseline. My kids LOVED the kids clubs, and I know no one else's will compare to Disney. DH loved going to the Buena Vista Theater to see a movie late night and the decor and beauty of a Disney ship was amazing. Service was wonderful all around, but I know Disney doesn't have the monopoly on great service.

More than anything, the pools are leading me to look elsewhere. My family loves to swim but the pool decks were impossible unless you were in and out before lunch. The pools looked like bathtubs crammed full of people. Now, if this is true of all cruise ships then perhaps cruising as a whole is not for us. Our favorite part of the trip was the two days at Castaway Cay

I think it makes a huge difference WHICH ship you're on, and also itinerary.

I think the experience, especially dining, was FAR better on the Magic and Wonder than on the new Dream. I liked Animators the way it was, not with my head spinning to see where Nemo is now.

If we do DCL again, I'm pretty sure it will be on the Magic or the Wonder.

 

[justmestace]

Speaking about elevators as I've noticed on every cruise I've been on. The people that need them, parents with young kids in strollers etc can't get on them from all the lazy able bodied people taking them up. I don't use the elevator unless I have to. We had someone, looked able bodied to me, not carrying anything, get on and get off at the next level. Lazy. Just a pet peeve.

As far as I know, elevators are for everyone's use. Just because you are a parent, or have a stroller, doesn't mean you need it more. I've seen plenty of strollers with kids in them who could easily be walking, hogging up elevator space.

My peeve is someone who takes an elevator down one floor, lol.

Like I said earlier, I LOOK able-bodied....but I can't DO stairs, up or down. You honestly cannot tell by looking at someone. Granted, most likely the teens or young adults that I mentioned probably don't have an excuse....but I even feel guilty using my handicap parking tag sometimes, because people stare at me and shake their heads.

La2kw.....good point.....the elevators ARE for everyone.....
Personally, I wouldn't take a child who needed a stroller. We didn't even take ours to Disneyland or WDW until they were old enough to walk. In the parks, people use their strollers like a weapon...charging through the crowds, not caring how many people have to jump out of the way.
And onboard a cruise, they're simply not practical at all. Plus I have to wonder how much fun it is for kids that little...and for the parents who still have to do all the stuff they do at home, like diapers and bottles, baby food, go to bed early. Just not my idea of fun. But to each his own.

 

[Princess Row]

Just my 2cents.

We sailed on CCL for our Honeymoom many years ago and will NEVER go back. It was a horrible experience. From service, things to do, communication to guests etc... From what I know, in regards to CCL has many mixed opinions. Some people have great times, others not so much.

On the other hand, we've sailed on DCL 4 times (soon to be 5) and have NEVER had a problem! Someone has started a "The little things that DCL does" or something like that. It's those things that make the BIG difference. Again, in my opinion.

I agree 700%!!