October 22, 2005 Roll call

[scrapperjill]

Just wanted to add...to American Scrappers post that I was one of the 10 adults in the group she mentioned...and YES we ALL had our eyes on watch...we did happen run into the group of boys MANY MANY times. I have to say that each time we ran into them or saw them they were behaving themselves as well as you would expect a group of young boys to act. I didn't happen to notice any of these "bad" behavors from these boys through out the week. Matter of fact we ran into Kathy's son on many occasions as he was out and about solo...just checking things out.

We too were one of those "bad" parents who let their kids have freedom and check out privleges. We did it last year, this year and will do it again on future cruises. Disney's policy is for kids 8 and older to have check out privledges. Matter of fact my daughter was given check out privledges last year and because of being able to get out of the club she met a great group of other girls her age...I'm not sure what it is with the "Lab" group but from the sounds of it ALOT of kids don't care for the set up or the activites they have planned.

I'll also comment on the misbehavor of many of the older children (early teens) as I saw groups of them running around with no reguard to others around them... Matter of fact we witnessed a group of four of them goofing around in the elevators. When the elevator door opened they looked out...stuck out thier hand and said "no room in here" ...yea the four of them...and to make it worse they were saying it to an older person in a wheelchair.

And while were on the topic of rude behavor...what about the group of adults that were sitting back on deck 10 (sitting 5+ feet away from the rail that overlooks deck 9) durring the pirate party that kept telling my 7 year old and my 7 year old neice that they needed to move out of their way...because they could't see over them as they were sitting at the their table. Give me a break!!! I felt like saying "Your going to have to stand up"

Not to mention all the adults that did stand RIGHT in front of the character interactions...like they couldn't see over the group of kids that should be in the front ...Yep...I ran into more 6+foot people standing in the front row of everything than the 3-4 footers.

Anyway...... I want to say we shouldn't judge others...there will always be things in the world that we don't agree with...and you shouldn't let those things get in your way. I don't come here to grip and complain so please disreguard all the negative things I mentioned above...it was more to get a point across.... I had a great trip despite the small things that happened....My kids had a blast, we as a family were together and were able to share a great week with good friends....what more could I have asked for?

 

[Dyerneeds]

Just wanted to add...to American Scrappers post that I was one of the 10 adults in the group she mentioned...and YES we ALL had our eyes on watch...we did happen run into the group of boys MANY MANY times. I have to say that each time we ran into them or saw them they were behaving themselves as well as you would expect a group of young boys to act. I didn't happen to notice any of these "bad" behavors from these boys through out the week. Matter of fact we ran into Kathy's son on many occasions as he was out and about solo...just checking things out.

We too were one of those "bad" parents who let their kids have freedom and check out privleges. We did it last year, this year and will do it again on future cruises. Disney's policy is for kids 8 and older to have check out privledges. Matter of fact my daughter was given check out privledges last year and because of being able to get out of the club she met a great group of other girls her age...I'm not sure what it is with the "Lab" group but from the sounds of it ALOT of kids don't care for the set up or the activites they have planned.

I'll also comment on the misbehavor of many of the older children (early teens) as I saw groups of them running around with no reguard to others around them... Matter of fact we witnessed a group of four of them goofing around in the elevators. When the elevator door opened they looked out...stuck out thier hand and said "no room in here" ...yea the four of them...and to make it worse they were saying it to an older person in a wheelchair.

And while were on the topic of rude behavor...what about the group of adults that were sitting back on deck 10 (sitting 5+ feet away from the rail that overlooks deck 9) durring the pirate party that kept telling my 7 year old and my 7 year old neice that they needed to move out of their way...because they could't see over them as they were sitting at the their table. Give me a break!!! I felt like saying "Your going to have to stand up"

Not to mention all the adults that did stand RIGHT in front of the character interactions...like they couldn't see over the group of kids that should be in the front ...Yep...I ran into more 6+foot people standing in the front row of everything than the 3-4 footers.

Anyway...... I want to say we shouldn't judge others...there will always be things in the world that we don't agree with...and you shouldn't let those things get in your way. I don't come here to grip and complain so please disreguard all the negative things I mentioned above...it was more to get a point across.... I had a great trip despite the small things that happened....My kids had a blast, we as a family were together and were able to share a great week with good friends....what more could I have asked for?

I did notice a lot of kids on their own on the ship and I never gave it a second thought. I think the thing that stuck out with the unruly boys was the language and disrespect. The way the one boy talked to his parents was really disrespectful. If he talks to his parents that way, you can only imagine how he disrespects others. It made my head turn a couple of times.
As far as the teens, my husband was on an elevator along one of the scrapperjil group and some teens. He didn't mention the elderly person though. He laughed because they had to hit every floor. (It may have been you he was on with. It was kinda comical.)

But, like I said, It really didn't impact us. I was more surprised at the language and the fact that the parents observed the behavior and let it continue.

I was talking to another couple on St Thomas that was on the Star Princess. When they found out we were on the Magic, They scoffed and said there's just too many kids on that cruise. I just said, "kids don't bother us. We get a kick out of watching them".

As you said, we still had a wonderful experience and a great time.

It's amazing how you see adults acting that way. It takes all kinds, I guess. So happy to hear you didn't let it impact you and still had a great time.

 

[disneyfan551]

Re: Melvin Mora...I had noticed him one day I had some alone time & had been soaking in the rays . I was on deck 10, and leaning over the rails watching people, and there below me, was a guy (with adorable kids!) that had a HUGE ring on his wedding ring finger! I tried to get a picture of it (will include in photoswap! ), to see if I could zoom in to see what type of ring it was. I couldn't tell however, but finally I could take it no longer...a few days later at the Mickey pool, my friend & I just asked him about his ring! He was very nice, and said he used to play for New York (not sure which one, since my ears have been clogged up due to this forever sickness! ), and now plays for Baltimore. He signed a DCL postcard for me as well, since I didn't have my dd's autograph book with me! Very nice guy, and boy those kids were SOOOO well behaved EVERY time I saw them!! (Wish I could say the same about my 4yo wild child!! )

 

[Skallywag]

We just arrived home in England this morning at 7.a.m. and it seems ages ago since we were enjoying ourselves on the cruise.

Personally, and we were four adults have no complaints at all about any of the young people on board. In fact we have no complaints at all about anything on the cruise apart from the fact that it is now over.

Unfortunately tried to meet up with other members on the Promenade deck but must have got things wrong.

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Bravo to AmericanScrapper It took a lot of guts to post that.

I can say that I never encountered the "unruly" boys on the ship. I did witness two boys that I did not recognize cussing eachother out on the stairway one day. I didn't say anything to them, however if I had my daughter with me and she had witnessed it I would have politely reminded them that they were in a public place and that kind of language is not appropriate to use especially around younger children. I would do this more as an example to my daughter (who is a low-key 8 year old now, but I'm sure she will one day be interested in testing boundaries and "experimenting" with inappropriate behavior as witnessed by some of us as this is the nature of chilren) than as any kind of reprimand to the boys. I'm sure they would laugh it off and cuss me out after I walked away.

Let's face it, we are on a Disney Cruise and there are children of all ages on board. And kids will test boundaries, act unruly, and act immature, because that's what they are!!! It's not realistic to expect adult behavior from teens, tweens or younger children. I agree, there is some behavior that is absolutely not acceptable. And if I had witnessed that type of behavior I would have high-tailed it to guest services and reported it immediately. However what I have read on the board seems to be more like "nuisance" behavior. As parents we do the best we can to teach our children how to behave in public. And the Disney Magic is a "safe" place to give your child the freedom to stretch their wings and explore on their own. Where else would a parent feel comfortable doing that? DCL believes that the age when children should be able to have this freedom on their ship is 8. And each parent must then make the decision if their child is ready for this freedom (and the responsibility that comes with it.) We did not feel our 8 year old was ready. Maybe next time. But just because a child acts out when they are not around the parents does not make the parent irresponsible. None of us knows if the parents were informed of the behavior, or how they handled it if they were informed. So to say the parents did nothing? There is simply no way to know that. And who are we to judge how a parent reprimands their child in public. We all have very strong feelings about how we raise our children. It is a very touchy subject...right up there with religion and politics .

I don't mean to be preachy....okay, maybe I do, but two rules to cruise by (on DCL anyways):

1. Expect to see kids of all ages acting like kids of all ages on board.

2. If you book a cruise between June and November be 100% prepared to be diverted due to tropical weather.

3. Don't flame Stacy in response to this post

 

[T&KHayes]

WOOOO HOOOO Go Mom's! lol

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in as well. We had a WONDERFUL time on the cruise! It was our first, and apparently I guess that does make a little difference. But, we went into this whole trip with our minds wide open and with as little expectations as possible. This always seems to make any situation easier & more enjoyable for us. In my short 33yrs. of life I have learned that when you expect people (especially those you don't even know) to act/behave a certain way you are almost always going to end up disappointed in one way or another. So I do my best not to have those expectations.

I was really looking forward to the western itinerary, but I also knew that it might not be possible/safe due to the weather. And although I didn't like the fact that we had to pay fro transportation to do anything at the other ports we still had a blast! I guess it's all about being flexible & enjoying the journey no matter where it takes you...kind of like life! (my opinion's only)

Kathy-You & Jim are terrific parents! I can't even tell you how much we enjoyed your kids. You know we absolutely adored your son! He played so well with Bubba(6) and most boys his age won't even take the time to pay any attention to a child that much younger than them. Everytime we saw him he was having fun and behaving. And no thats not just me trying to bail him out of trouble (again) !

All I can say is that DCL Rocks!! And that we can't wait to go on our next cruise. And I hope that you all will be able to go too as I can't even imagine the experience without you guys & your kids! Ohhh and Kathy, Stacy, anytime you guys want to come to visit I know scrapperjill has room & so do we (3 houses down)! Love you all & can't wait to make some new memories!

 

[disneyfan551]

It seems as if this wonderful thread is starting to go downhill. Everyone does has their own opinion, and I don't think anyone was bashing anyone intentionally. Here's just throwing some pixie dust out there and hoping we can get back to the good memories!

 

[jillian1027]

We encountered the unruly children several times during the cruise and often asked ourselves, 'Where are the parents?" The most difficult time for us was when we tried to watch the jumbotron movies on deck 9 about 10 pm and were unable to hear the movies because the children (the same kids in and out of the elevators) were screaming and jumping into the goofy pool. Granted, the pool was open until 12 midnight and the movies were being shown in the same area so I do fault Disney for keeping the pool open during the movies or if the pool needed to be open, then it should have been supervised. Either way, the pool rules state 'no jumping' and all of the boys were jumping in thus splashing the people who were trying to watch the movie. It was awful. I was so mad and did say something to security who did come over one time to ask the boys not to jump, but that lasted for one minute and they continued jumping and screaming again. The deck was dark which made the pool hard to see. I kept saying to my husband that someone is going to get hurt. Sure enough, the pushing and shoving at the pool caused a few to slip. One parent did show up and simply looked around. She did nothing to stop the screaming when clearly there were some of us trying to watch the movie. I gave up and walked away.

Our son turned 10 on the ship and although he was able to have sign-out privileges per the ship rules, we felt that we could maintain some kind of control and allow him to have his freedom by simply being available to him whenever he wanted to leave whatever activity he was involved in. We took the 2-way radios with us and we had a beeper so whenever he was ready to move onto another activity we just picked him up and took him with us. We felt that this was the best position for our family and for our child and it worked very well. He was able to move about the ship freely to get a drink or a snack but for the most part, we compromised. You give us time without interruption at Palo's and we will be there on time to play in the arcade. It worked out well.

I feel that 'while the cats away the mice will play' and I don't buy the 'boys will be boys' motto either. As a mother of a teenager and a 10-year old, I feel that it is my responsibility to know where my child is, that he is not bothering other paying passengers and that he is safe. My needs are secondary to my child's. The best lesson I could show my son was that I too could be considerate to other passengers and I expected him to follow the same.

On any cruise we have ever taken, we have always encountered at least one group of children whose parents seem to be elsewhere while the children 'act up'. Having seen it before, I wanted to make sure my child was not part of that scene and the only way to do that is to keep up with what my child was doing and where he was. It is just the right thing to do afterall cruises are not cheap and we are all there to have a good time.

It is a personal choice whether to allow sign out privileges or not. I think it is something children should earn and not just be handed.

Otherwise, the cruise was fun. We didn't care that the itinerary was changed because we actually had been on the western on another cruise line but we wanted to be on Disney for my son's birthday. So the change actually worked in our favor. We had deck 6 cat 6...navigator's verandah, which was a real treat! How wonderful it was to sit out on the verandah!

Something unrelated, but while I am here, I thought I might add (I put it on my survey sheet)...I noticed that the cabin crew used the washroom sink to dump dirty water used to clean the bathrooms into. With so much emphasis on preventing the spread of germs, it was really strange to be in the laundrette area, and to have a public wash sink used to dump germ infested water. I saw people using the wash sink to rinse out clothing before I saw the cabin crew using the wash basin as a sewer. I do hope that practice changes.

 

[UKANGEL]

Hello all

Just back in the land of the living after suffering bad jet lag since we got home on Tuesday. we had a few days at WDW after the cruise and had a great time staying at the Dolphin

We loved our cruise! As a couple we didnt see the 'unruly boys' and nothing upset our perfect holiday Although I was slightly disappointed to be on the Eastern cruise again, as it was the one we took 3 years ago for our honeymoon it ahd special memories anyway so I soon got over that!

We made some great friends on our dinner table, from NY, and are looking forward to meeting up with them again when we go to Ny next year

We thought we were so lucky to be safe and sound, whever we were, and so lucky to be on that lovely ship, with all that sunshine and being spoilt by the Disney staff. We had great service from all our servers and room staff, and have no complaints at all except I want to be back there now!


here's to the next one!

 

[MelissaE1]

2. If you book a cruise between June and November be 100% prepared to be diverted due to tropical weather.

Hmmm... I can only guess you might be referring at least partially to me, in which case I would like to clarify something. Although I was bummed to be doing the Eastern again instead of the Western, I don't think DCL had any control over that and I completely agree with them taking the ship and its passengers where they believed it was safe to go. I was fully aware of a possible itinerary change for that time of the year.

What I took issue with was the lack of customer service. When I called to find out infomation, they were incredibly rude to me. Also I am a big honesty person and I think they should have just said "yes, we're changing the itinerary to keep you safe, we don't know exactly what it will be yet." Basically they didn't want to take the heat or deal with people asking for refunds or rebookings so they just pretended. Sorry if that offends others out there, but I know how to watch a hurricane because we have to all the time here. There was NO WAY they were going to keep the original itinerary and they knew it. I checked some other lines' websites and they handled it totally differently. Lastly I know they usually do at least a little something to cushion the disappointment, and they didn't. Expecting that is probably a function of being over-informed on these boards, and maybe it would be better if I wasn't. But I expect more from Disney in general and that's why we spend more to vacation with them.

Of course we did not let this ruin our vacation. As I said we still had a good time, made some great memories, and we rebooked onboard to be transferred to a later date in a few years when we once again have enough to go on the Western.

Again I am sorry if other people think it's not OK to be dissapointed in the way Disney handles things, or to be bummed that your $6000 vacation that you saved for three years for was not what you wanted. I am glad you didn't experience that. Or maybe you just have a better attitude than me.

 

[MelissaE1]

Speaking of my son, and I am sure I will be flamed for this (I feel as if I already have by several), but I cannot help but step in regarding the "unruly boys" and their "irresponsible parents". My son was part of a crowd that did do some "running" around on the cruise and yes, he is in the approximate age group in question.
Kathy

I don't think the kids I personally ran into were yours... these kids were young boys, there were like three of them. They were often tearing through shutters or jumping underneath the racks or running at top speed outside the restaurants or through the halls. Don't think it was your group, American Scrapper. They didn't really bother me, either, I just wondered why they never had any supervision. They really weren't that old.

 

[afoss]

I can't say if I ran into the group of boys or not....I was too busy wrangling my own 2 and 4 year old DD. You probably saw my youngest....she wore her Belle dress EVERY NIGHT!

Anyway- thanks to everyone for getting this site started, making buttons and planning meets. Great job. I just wish I could have made more of them but 3pm is right in the middle of my DD's naptime.

I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to meet everyone. Including PDarrah. I wanted to thank you in person.

Well, off to start saving for another 2-3 years so we can do Disney again

 

[scrapperjill]

I think this thread needs some serious help Were going in the WRONG direction. Why don't we discusse the positive things...What we "Liked" about THIS cruise.

1.) The sail-a-way party was a blast....especially when the rain came...my kids and hubby had a super time playing on the stage and deck in the rain.

2.) Loved snorkeling at St Martine. I'd never been anywhere where you could hear the coral. I only wish we would have known how great the water/snorkeling could have been at St Thomas...We didn't get the chance to even try there.

3.) Character interaction was super...at least IMO.

4.) We had a blast playing one of the scavanger games in Studio Sea one evening.

5.) Time spent with friends and family....PRICELESS

Well....there's a start anyone else care to share some GOOD trip experiences?

 

[ThreeSmiths]

MelissaE1: I was not referring to you at all, I apologize if it seemed that way...that's one problem with the boards, sometimes words don't read the way that you want to speak them.

I too agree that DCL should and could have informed us well ahead of time what their plans were as far as changing the itinerary. That is bad customer service in my opinion. However I personally don't believe that DCL "owes" me anything. Yes, I too was disapointed that we didn't get to do the western....we were diverted last year to a modified eastern so we rebooked to try again for the western. But I don't blame DCL for that, and I read it as some people are so upset that they feel like DCL owes them something....this is a general statement and not directed at anyone specifically. Maybe I will feel differently if it happens to us a 3rd time!

Stacy

 

[pdarrah]

We had a great time. It wasn't as great as last year, but I think that was just the itinerary change - these islands just don't have much we are interested in. Some of our list of good stuff:

The Doubloon Sail and Snorkel at St. Thomas - the actual reef was very sad ( no where near as nice as Cozumel and a lot of dead coral) but the sea turtles were very cool. Sailing back under sail was awesome and the crew on board were a blast.

Relaxing on the verandah - this was our first cruise with a verandah and it was so nice to sit out there and just relax.

Oceanear's Club - this one is for DS6 - he had a blast there again!

Meeting DIS friends - We didn't meet everyone and that is a shame, but we enjoyed those that we did and had a great time at dinner every night with Dyerneeds and Walt&Di.

Brunch at Palo - Once again, this was an amazing meal.

Watching DS6 try escargot - He liked the taste, but not the texture! His favorite new thing that he tried was the cold mango soup on embarkation day.

Spending the afternoon on board after visiting St. Maarten - This island was a dud for us. Since we didn't have time to research doing something on our own and didn't want to do back-to-back snorkeling trips (and none of the other DCL trips looked good to us) we just went into town and walked around. We didn't hate it, but there wasn't much there to interest us either. None of us are shoppers, and we couldn't find much else of interest. However, we did have a great afternoon back on board the Magic (I think we were back to the ship around 11:00am!) We were able to relax near the Mickey Pool while DS played, play shuffleboard on Deck 4, ping-pong on 9 and all the other stuff that is usually too crowded.

There are many more, but that is a good start.

Pdarrah

 

[pdarrah]

MelissaE1: I was not referring to you at all, I apologize if it seemed that way...that's one problem with the boards, sometimes words don't read the way that you want to speak them.

I too agree that DCL should and could have informed us well ahead of time what their plans were as far as changing the itinerary. That is bad customer service in my opinion. However I personally don't believe that DCL "owes" me anything. Yes, I too was disapointed that we didn't get to do the western....we were diverted last year to a modified eastern so we rebooked to try again for the western. But I don't blame DCL for that, and I read it as some people are so upset that they feel like DCL owes them something....this is a general statement and not directed at anyone specifically. Maybe I will feel differently if it happens to us a 3rd time!

Stacy

Hi Stacy,

We had a great time and I don't really feel DCL "owes" us - but I am annoyed that I paid about 5% more to do a Western the week of Oct 22 than I would have paid to do an Eastern the week of Oct 29. We booked on board last year and considered the Eastern - it was a little cheaper and many of our DIS friends from last year were booking that week. We chose to spend a little more in order to try and get a Western. Certainly we knew that the itinerary could change (obviously, it did last year since we have now missed Grand Cayman twice!). It just annoys me now that I paid more and still got the other cruise. Not really DCL's fault, but it would be good customer service on their part to refund the difference...

pdarrah

 

[afoss]

Here's some of ours:
Palo brunch and dinner. Liked the food at brunch better, specially the stollen.
The split bathrooms!
All hands on deck platter
Golden Mickeys was our favorite
Princess gathering one morning
naps in the afternoon
Visiting friends in St Thomas

If we were go again, what changes we would make:
Get the veranda
Not as many dress clothes for DDs, just Princess dresses for dinner
Early seating (we got lucky and was able to switch from late this time. There is no way the DDS would have made it since the early was hard enough on them)
That's it!
Amy

 

[UKANGEL]

our magical moments


Brunch at Palo
Dinner at palo on DH's birthday
Making friends with our dinner companions
Castaway Cay
Having wonderful highlights put in my hair at the Vista salon (thanks Giles)

sitting on my balcony with a coffee and watching the sun go up

 

[MelissaE1]

MelissaE1: I was not referring to you at all, I apologize if it seemed that way...that's one problem with the boards, sometimes words don't read the way that you want to speak them.

So true. No offense taken or hopefully given. One interesting note, our very experienced server said the repeat customers are much harder to please than first timers. I guess Disney has pushed us to a new level of expectation, lol.

Why don't we discusse the positive things...What we "Liked" about THIS cruise.

Here are some of my favorite moments:

-- My dd7 did not have her autograph book with her at the character breakfast, so dh went to get it but she missed an autograph she really wanted. Unasked, our assistant server, Viviane, took her by the hand and led her all the way through the restaurant to Goofy and waited with her to get his autograph.

-- In another unprepared moment (lol) we were two floors down from our cabin when we passed Stitch on deck 4 with his handler, leaving. DD7 wanted a picture with him (the one time I didn't have my camera with me of course) but we told her we would get it later because he was leaving right now. But Stitch heard and laid down on the floor right there while dh went to grab my camera... the handler said he had to go to bed but Stitch just pointed at him and did the "cuckoo" sign, which my dd is still laughing about. Luckily we were literally two decks down from our cabin and dh was back pronto. The unrehearsed picture of stitch hugging dd is my favorite character picture of the cruise.

Also our cabin was in a marvelous location (6560) and ds, who wasn't too interested in the Lab last time (although he had a great time doing other things) had an amazing time in the kids' areas thanks to Ocean Quest. For him at least it was an wonderful drydock addition.

And then there's the stollen at Palo brunch... mmmmm...sigh... that could be a whole separate post.

 

[scrapperjill]

Hi Stacy,

We had a great time and I don't really feel DCL "owes" us - but I am annoyed that I paid about 5% more to do a Western the week of Oct 22 than I would have paid to do an Eastern the week of Oct 29. We booked on board last year and considered the Eastern - it was a little cheaper and many of our DIS friends from last year were booking that week. We chose to spend a little more in order to try and get a Western. Certainly we knew that the itinerary could change (obviously, it did last year since we have now missed Grand Cayman twice!). It just annoys me now that I paid more and still got the other cruise. Not really DCL's fault, but it would be good customer service on their part to refund the difference...

pdarrah

Just wanted to know if you have checked for any possible refund? I looked at our account yesterday and noticed a small refund... It's not alot...and it dosn't say what it's for...but I don't remember returning anything so the only thing I could think of would be the port fee refund from the diffrence in the additional ports on the Western.

Other magical moments on our cruise....

Dinner at Palo...I won't go into it but our WHOLE group had some side spitting laughing going on.

Getting the secret note on our door...along with my parents getting a suprise door sign on their Anniversary.

The crazy wind up on deck 10 on the first or second night....It was absolutly CRAZY....you could hardly stand up....We walked around the whole deck front to back and back again...we even spent quite a bit of time at the VERY front of the ship....trying to hold our ground.

Finally getting to take a dip in the adult pool. I'm not sure what time it was...but we had the WHOLE area to ourselves.

Castaway Cay....Dreamy and Perfect. I loved sitting in the hammock this year.

Having a ding-dong with "wet" choloate for dessert one night....(hehehe inside joke) YUMMY

Oh...another FUN event was watching movies on the big screan outside. We were only able to fit in one (part of one) movie one night (Pirate night)...I do wish we would have been able to view others...but honestly there wasn't any others listed at night the I cared to see.

Ordering Mickey bars from roomservice.

On a side note...were still taking names for the Photo Swap. It's turns into a great way to get a TON more photos...all you have to do is share yours.