Nov. 28 4-Night Cruise - 99.5% WONDERful

[zerog]

Just returned from the November 28th 4-night to Nassau. The weather was amazing and the seas were very calm. In all, the cruise was totally awesome.

However, there is always room for improvement. Here are some of my thoughts.

1) No bathroom outside the port terminal.

I drank a lot of water the morning of the cruise in order to stay hydrated. This was a recommended remedy for motion sickness. When we arrived at the port, I had to 'go' pretty badly. Long story short, I had to hold it long enough to drop off the luggage, park the car, wait in line behind about 15 people for security, and go thru the security check - before I could run up the escalator to use the terminal bathroom upstairs. I wasted precious time asking for a bathroom, praying to hear a different answer. If I had gone in my shorts before the cruise.. I don't even want to think about that!

2) Clueless Cruise Passengers

Immediately after the pirate party, CMs scrambled quickly to put out lounge chairs in front of the Ariel Vision. This was because Pirates of the Caribbean was about to be shown. My D-GF and I found a couple of lounge chairs and enjoyed watching the movie outside for about 15 minutes... until.... the 2 ladies next to us decided to carry on a loud conversation in Spanish. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH... and more BLAH BLAH BLAH... I shot them a couple of dirty looks, but they were so oblivious (clueless) and just kept on. I could have said something (like SHUT THE *bleep* UP) but I decided that they must be really stupid. I mean, couldn't they see 150 people were all lying around, relaxing, and watching a movie. There are other places on the ship to talk where it won't bother anybody - like 1000 different places on the ship.. hmmmm.

3) The Food

I saved the best for last because not everyone is going to agree. I've come to the conclusion that we are all brainwashed about the food on board. The descriptions of the food are very fancy, so the food MUST be good! Right!? Wrong!! The blueberry pancakes were inedible/dry/gross. The sushi rice was inedible/dry/gross. I order lamb one night, and it was flat out disgusting. The mickey waffles were dry. The tuna appetizer was ridiculous. It was served diced; about a half teaspoon of fish. The rock shrimp pie was terrible too - in fact, half the people at our table ordered it and nobody could eat it. I could go on and on. So, whether you agree with me or not, a menu that displays a creative name and description does not make the food good. Simply put, the food is horrible!!! If you disagree with me, I'll know that you have been brainwashed. Hah

All in all, it was a fantastic cruise and I hope to go again sometime in the near future.

 

[floydfamily4]

Thanks for sharing your feedback! 99+% is still pretty awesome

 

[Tinkalink]

Thank you for posting a report. I'm very glad you had a great time overall. I'm hoping you post more details and events of your trip.
This week I was listening to the Nov. 17th DIS podcast on their cruise do's and don'ts. (Excellent BTW). Pete Werner went on a enraged rant about the food quality on the past several Disney cruises he took. As you probably know, the Podcast cruise is this Sunday, December 12th. I hope he doesn't freak out if and when he reads your report.
I'm glad you had a good trip, we are also going on the Podcast cruise (Dec 12th) with great anticipation. I only hope the food is good as I will never hear the end of it from my DH. Thank goodness they serve vodka on the ship Did they show the movie Tangled? My kids are dying to see it and I don't want to take them if the cruise is showing it in 3D. (We saw Bolt in 3D last time we went on a Disney Cruise.)

 

[VisionPilot]

3) The Food

I saved the best for last because not everyone is going to agree. I've come to the conclusion that we are all brainwashed about the food on board. The descriptions of the food are very fancy, so the food MUST be good! Right!? Wrong!! The blueberry pancakes were inedible/dry/gross. The sushi rice was inedible/dry/gross. I order lamb one night, and it was flat out disgusting. The mickey waffles were dry. The tuna appetizer was ridiculous. It was served diced; about a half teaspoon of fish. The rock shrimp pie was terrible too - in fact, half the people at our table ordered it and nobody could eat it. I could go on and on. So, whether you agree with me or not, a menu that displays a creative name and description does not make the food good. Simply put, the food is horrible!!! If you disagree with me, I'll know that you have been brainwashed. Hah

All in all, it was a fantastic cruise and I hope to go again sometime in the near future.

DW, a friend of hers and I were also on this sailing and had a great time overall as well.

One complaint we did have was how long breakfast took in Tritons on Nassau morning. We weren't planning to get off the ship, so we weren't in a rush, but we didn't plan on an 90 minute breakfast sitting.

Granted, food is subjective, but a handful of less-than-stellar items out of 3 meals on each of 4 days plus snacks is a pretty low percentage, in my opinion...not enough to call all of the food horrible. The Mickey waffle I had was pretty dry as well, but I'm not a big waffle lover, so it wasn't an issue with me with the other items I had on my plate from the breakfast buffet. I'll agree with you about the shrimp cheesecake pie. DW and I didn't like it when we sailed in April. But I take issue with your complaint about the tuna tartare. Perhaps tuna tartare is new to some people, but a small serving of diced fish is pretty much standard for tartare. Tartare is not ceviche and is usually a very small portion. A lot of people complain about the smaller portions on most of the dishes onboard, but I NEVER left the dining room any less than absolutely stuffed, but I almost never eat appetizer, salad, entree AND dessert at home. usually just one of the 4 and I'm full in a regular restaurant. If anything is not to your liking, they are happy to bring a replacement or more of something. In AP, I didn't like the veal I was served and our server replaced it with the tenderloin very quickly.

How did you like the Master Chef Menu? We LOVED the appetizers, but felt the rest was underwhelming. Maybe it's because the apps were so good for us? Our server insisted on us ordering 2 items for each course to try everything and let him know what we thought so it really ended up just being a "tasting" dinner for us which was a lot of fun.

Call me brainwashed, but I'm not the only one

 

[zerog]

If anything is not to your liking, they are happy to bring a replacement or more of something.

We were aware of this - even the fact that you can order something from another restaurant.

How did you like the Master Chef Menu?

Not sure where or what this was.

This was my 4th DCL cruise, yet I somehow completely missed the overall quality of food; until now. I've always been so overwhelmed with the excitement of the cruise and the amount of food offered. I was never hungry. Since I didn't maintain a detailed diary of the menu, I only listed the first things that came to my mind - like the inedible blueberry pancakes. I didn't mention the omelets. They weren't good either. I even requested that they be made from 2 real eggs, rather than from the cylinder of mystery mix.

Back to the BB pancakes. I 'think' they were cooked fresh, yet they were inedible. How do you mess up BB pancakes!!?? They had to be perhaps the worst BB pancakes I have ever eaten. And the sushi!! The rice was so pasty.

I'm now convinced that we all get so caught up in the moment, that we gloss over the true quality of the food. The menu descriptions are romantic. The presentation is awesome. The service is impeccable. But when you get down to it, the food is terrible.

 

[smartkim]

I guess it just depends on the person as far as the food goes. My DH absolutely loved the food and fine-dining experience. Personally, I didn't. I am a picky eater and fancily prepared food does not appeal to me. I didn't particularly like the counter service or buffet food either. It was just "okay" IMHO. The cruise was great overall, loved how "clean" everything was but I would not give the food high marks.

 

[tigger30066]

I was on this cruise as well. The new Master Chef's menu ( or whatever it is called) did nothing for me. I was dissapointed that we did not get the priate menu. Overall it was a great first cruise and I can not wait for Dec 12 prices to come out so I can book my next one.