Name three things that did NOT live up the hype?

[bdink921]

Our Disney cruise was our first cruise--we absolutely loved it and are hooked on cruising!! I did find a few things that didn't live up to the hype though. I liked the shows--actually liked Hercules the best--but they weren't the 'must see' quality that I was expecting. I thought the food at Cookie's BBQ was gross--except for the chocolate chip cookie dough soft serve ice cream YUM!! We did enjoy the rest of the food onboard. My DS8 did comment on how 'funny' the water in the Mickey pool looked after 2 days . The last thing is--kinda silly and I don't know what I was expecting--but you know how they announce your name when you board--there was one poor CM standing there trying to clap louder than the crowd of people who boarded before us and were standing in the atrium figuring out where to go. I had really built that one up for my DS8--he just kinda looked at me like 'that's it?' These are just some very small things that I would never have mentioned if someone didn't ask.

 

[woody73]

. . . My DS8 did comment on how 'funny' the water in the Mickey pool looked after 2 days . . .

Perhaps Mickey had an ear infection.

Woody

 

[xlRacerXlx]

1. The dining room experience. It seems very fabricated. Perhaps they mean for it to be that way? I don't need to see that whole countries thing... lol...
2. We don't win bingo.
3. Lack of daytime activity for teens. Nothing happens until after dinner.

 

[elaineteresa]

so glad you started this thread - it is good to see all the pros and cons - I know I definitely suffered from letdown when the cruise was not 100% magical.


Overrated:

Cookie's BBQ - what's the big deal?

Dining/Cabin staff - average rating for the people we had

AP - I kept thinking I must have missed something since we had a terrible table.


My biggest disappointments:

Adult after hours activity/spaces - the bars/dance clubs were all horrible internal spaces. Is every ship like this? I only discovered Cove cafe coffee bar ($4.50 for tea) at the end of the cruise. The last night, we went to Diversions which is a lovely space. Maybe the dance club would be better if everyone wasn't in bed by 10:30pm.


If the weather was hot for our Dec. cruise the pools would really have been an issue. The Goofy pool is really horrible to hang around and supervise and you can't really enjoy the adult pool if the kids have nowhere to go.

The kids clubs were crowded, hot and claustrophobic. It took forever to get them checked in - enough that we were late for any adult activitiy we went to. Even a few people ahead of you caused a big delay.

My son had another boy sit on his chest during free play time and choke him - my daughter went to get a counselor for help and then both boys got in trouble for fighting. We showed up at the same time the other boys parents did - which really could be a security issue in case one parent became angry. This kept our 6 year olds away from the kids club for the rest of the cruise.

The food was boring - all continental menus. Meat and vegetable type. The only ethnic food was at lunch but we always wanted to eat on deck and not in one of the dark dining rooms.

We missed a lot of characters - they all seemd to come out at the wrong times or too late for my kids. BOO HOO!!

Many positives too:

The entertainment staff is top notch. There is about a dozen of them and you can tell they were all hand picked. Too bad the dining staff didn't compare. Michael who DJ'ed at CC had a really great Euro disco thing going - GREAT!! Rachel the cruise director is also fantastic. She was all over the ship in what I consider to be a never ending job. I saw her mouthing along to the words during the shows - she told us she was a performer for 10 years.
There was not a disappointing moment from this group of people.

Loved Palo - loved the view, the service, the tranquility.

Loved our Exotic Rasul. You get to use all the same products that I paid $130. for with my facial and more. My skin felt fantastic after and hubby and I had fun with the mud. Even he said his skin felt great. I think this is the biggest bargain on the ship and fun for both of you.

Loved the Rainforest.

ok I tried to limit it We sail again on the 5 day DD in Sept. 2008.

 

[sarasotamom]

Actually when I first saw this I thought it was a bad idea, but maybe Disney will read this and change a few of the complaints. Also good to take in for the new ships.

Things that did not live up to the hype:
1. The noisy restaurants, even with second seating they did tend to be loud.
2. Animators Palate is a letdown from what you are expecting.
3. Everything closes early on the last night---this only makes the last night even sadder.

Things that should be changed for repeat cruisers:
1. Change the shows more often. I love Dreams, but the Golden Mickeys and Hercules are getting old. Our last 2 cruises we only went to Dreams and Twice Charmed. Broadway type shows would be awesome.
2. More late night things for adults. Rock'n D was lots of fun on our last cruise the DJ was great. They got to know everyones names and we all had a great time.
3. Music or something by the adult pool would be nice.

Things for new ships:
1. Bigger faciliity for the buffet.
2. More category 1, 2, and 3 rooms
3. Get a bigger bathroom, yes it is very claustrophobic!!

Things that I love about Disney Cruises:
1. The service and CMs. Especially the person who takes care of our room. They have always been friendly and hardworking. The entertainment staff is awesome. We have always had a great food staff too. A few have taken a day to warm up, but we are always sad to leave them.
2. The easy debarktation. We have always been off the ship and to our car with luggage within 10 minutes.
3. The cleaniness of the rooms and the ship. Ever notice that when we dock the ship is being painted and cleaned by the crew. You don't see that on the other ships. Rust and barnacles galore on the others
4. The classic look of the ship from the outside. Elegant and majestic to look at.
5. The memories and laughs my family brings home with them.
6. Palo's chocolate souffle (sp)
7. Castaway Cay especially Serenity Beach

That being said, no cruise is perfect. We have had our most relaxing and fun vacations on DCL and am going on another 4-day on March 25.

 

[Anal Annie]

We thought everything was absoutely great on the Magic in '05! We really had no complaints about the meals - the food was excellent, really. The character breakfast was better than at Chef Mickey's (but IMO - that one's not all it's cracked up to be), the shopping on board was fine (we had a couple of really crappy days so EVERYBODY was in the shops so they were crowded - but they were bringing out more merchandise by the box full to keep up), the kids club was not "zoo-like" whenever we were around (and we stayed on Deck 5 and it was very quiet). I really don't know that we really had any complaints - except a week wasn't enough, the weather was bad a couple of days (not Disney's fault) and they seemed to have to empty the kids pool A LOT of times. But no big complaints with the ship or crew! It WAS magical!!

 

[mermaidlady]

Sarasotamom, please come and join us on our cruise meet thread. We would love to see you there.

 

[Anal Annie]

1. The food
2. The Pirate Party. Kind of cool but not great. Fireworks are great though.
3. Serivce not great in dinning room
4. Split Bathroom-Would be better if one big one
5. Room (Cat6) was smaller than expected.
6. Show in Animators was cool, but not awesome as described.
7. Noise in dinning room.
8. Length of time dinner took (2 hours)

Thought the food was quite good for the volume being prepared & served and our servers had the patience of saints with a couple of the other people at our table who returned EVERYTHING every night...some people are just never happy. The split bath is the bomb - we'd never all get ready on time w/o that - and Disney has some of the biggest staterooms in the business...(trick - leave your suitcases open and they should fit under the beds). Also, we enjoyed being able to have a 2 hr. leisurely dinner for a change rather than rushing thru everything...gave us a chance to talk to our tablemates & just enjoy "being out"!

 

[kingdomkeeper]

THE FOOD -it was bland but still better than my cooking and I didnt have to clean up after it.
The teen club ( stack ) was a little intimedating for our 13 yr old son who is normaly very social
The ships cosmetic appearance was worn and in need of refurbishment, maintenance needed.
But we still enjoyed the experience and would cruise Disney again.
Paying a premium compared to other ships it is expected that there should be top quality throughout your cruise from dining experiences to cosmetic apperances.

 

[BubbaGrump]

kingdomkeeper IMHO,thought the ship was spotless and very well maintained. Care to give any examples?

 

[kingdomkeeper]

The red soffit at topsiders was hanging down on the starboard side , the carpet outside the elevator areas was a little stained, cracked tiles in mens washrooms, cracked tiles in the stack by the elevator these are just a few things off the top of my head . We sailed on the Magic Feb 24-March 3 this year so are only just off the ship - they do keep it very clean and we loved it , I just think it may be coming close to time for refurb !.

 

[BubbaGrump]

Yep kingdomkeeper, sounds like time to refurb. I think drydock is soon. Anyone know when?

 

[NZMUM]

Yep kingdomkeeper, sounds like time to refurb. I think drydock is soon. Anyone know when?

Last cruise is the 5 night Bahamian 1-5 September, then dry dock for 3 weeks.

 

[taswira]

Last cruise is the 5 night Bahamian 1-5 September, then dry dock for 3 weeks.

But that isn't any time soon. That is September of 2008, right? A year and a half away . . .

 

[BubbaGrump]

Last cruise is the 5 night Bahamian 1-5 September, then dry dock for 3 weeks.

07' or 08'?

OOPS! Beat me to it taswira.

 

[kingdomkeeper]

I hope its 07 we rebooked onboard for march 08 , if its not refurbed by then we may postpone our next trip until it has gone into dry dock , if we are paying that much money for our vacation I expect perfection -having said that I still feel that I want to get back on the ship NOW instead of being home in the snow !.

 

[LCTsMom]

I believe the Magic goes into drydock in 2008.

 

[NZMUM]

But that isn't any time soon. That is September of 2008, right? A year and a half away . . .

Ooops yes it is 2008. Wishful thinking on my part - we are hopefully cruising late 2008.

 

[kkmcan]

I haven't read all of the responses but I'll jump in here and say that we went our first cruise and our first Disney cruise last November.

We have nothing to compare it to but we loved everything. We never had so much fun in our life! Over hyped stuff was:

1)Animator's Palette (dvd and Travel Channel show really hypes this up)
2)Pirate Night- we had fun but it is just a bunch of dancing and few fireworks at the end. With that said though, we would probably attend again.
3)No steel drum band. Everyone we know asked about steel drum music. I told them there wasn't any. Disappointing to say the least.


Loved Cookies BBQ- I mean where else can you walk over in your bare feet and eat free food at the beach!! Not in Arizona that's for sure!

Not sure about the kids clubs. Our kids (9,6) didn't want to go and the 2 times they did go we had to really talk them into it. I think it was because they couldn't be together. We traveled with grandparents so they could have been thinking about what fun we were having without them. If they had friends traveling with us, it might have been a different experience. Dh and I got practically no time together alone.

With all of that said, I've been trying to get dh to let me book another for next year. He hasn't budged yet but he will!

 

[disneyfan19712006]

Split bathrooms - seems like whatever I needed was always in "the other one" and they're both too small for a pooh-sized woman.

I am pooh sized also and my opt for a CAT 11 or 12 next time for a larger bathroom. My DS is a huge football player and couldn't turn around in there.

Also it would be nice to use the toilet and take a shower without having to come out into the room.