MariaJ
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
- Messages
- 60
I am writing this post because in my time here on the boards, I haven't seen this discussed: Why would an "older" family continue to choose DCL? A family who is not especially character or shows focused? I had a personal revelation that I wished I'd had earlier. For many of you, my insight will be stating the obvious. I share this in the hope it might help someone else with a similar decision. Would have saved me some worry and some money. As always, your mileage may vary....
We sailed the Fantasy last Christmas, it was our second cruise on this ship and did not disappoint in any way. The first was 3 1/2 years ago. DS was now 20 so he did the 1820 Club and watched many movies, including the new release of Rogue 1, and DD was 14 and LOVED Vibe and hanging out with all the other teens, and the freedom that she enjoyed on the boat.
The decorations were stunning. I especially was wowed by the snow in the atrium one night! It was truly "magical." The ship, as before, was pristine. I did not notice any decline due to possible staff reductions, as had been mentioned here prior to our cruise. We literally never noticed a time or situation that needed more attention from the staff.
Our daughter caught a case of norovirus, and our experience in the health center was as excellent as could be expected. Fast, professional, caring, with effective medicine dispensed to help with the symptoms. The resulting quarantine graciously managed, including giving us the use of an additional room for our 86-year-old Grandmother, so she would not get sick too, which at her age could have been catastrophic.
I, however, felt SO constricted by the dining rotation. The food was always really, really good; (and we are small "f" foodies) it was more the lack of choice and time. I really don't like herding up and waiting in the crowd to go into the dining room, even though it is VERY well managed and quite quick. The Dining Rooms are absolutely spectacular, but I've seen them all before, and they are a bit loud and chaotic, and please hear me that I'm not referring to the children and their normal boisterousness. There are just a lot of tables, close together, in very large rooms. The service was good enough, but we don't have little kids to be wowed by tricks and such. Our team did what they were trained to do, interact with us (fawn on us?), but I prefer a more subtle service, and our conversations were often intruded upon to keep the pace of service up. We also felt quite hurried along, even though we were at the second seating. Lingering over dessert with our children (rare at this age) and a glass of wine was barely tolerated. But I get it. The way dinner is done is perfect for younger families. I don't fault Disney at all for this. And, I couldn't care less what other people wear to dinner. We dressed up a bit since it was the holidays.
If you've read this far, you might understand why I looked for a more adult-focused and less restricting cruise for this year. One where I could chose from many different restaurants and cuisines, and where I could determine the time to eat, and how long we stayed at our table. One with more mature shows perhaps, and live bands with dancing even. And how about some more activities like rock climbing and surf riders and the like? Not to mention the less expensive cost, even figuring in up charges for dining options, soda and the like. So I did my research, and booked us on NCL.
So what changed? I recently found cause to go on the forums again and look at recent cruisers' experiences for the particular ship we had booked. There have been some disturbing recounts of serious service lapses, ones that are totally attributable to the staff and the choices of the management. (For instance, only one gangplank down to exit the ship at a port, resulting in many missed excursions. One gangplank to embark, resulting in two hour waits in the rain, and many, many other reports of staff demoralized by personnel reductions with the resulting tired and dejected service.) But I've been on these forums long enough to know that unhappy experiences are the ones most often written about, so I read them with a degree of skepticism, and tried to suss out the truth from exaggeration.
So here's where it gets tricky. NCL has been heavily promoting a free Unlimited Drink Package offer this year as a way to increase bookings. Well, kind of free, you still pay tax and service of $199 pp. Sounded great to me at the time! Our biggest expense on DCL when checking out has been our bar bill. Included?! Count me in! Woot woot!!
But wait. What does that mean for the whole ship? What would the boat feel like if almost everyone has access to unlimited alcohol?
Well, the forums describe daily party time by the main pools that can often get quite raunchy (the word "grinding" is found quite often) starting in the mid afternoon. Loud DJ's blaring party tunes. Could be fun! And bars that stay open really, really late!! Awesome! Listen, I can claim no innocence in this regard from my own youth. Oh, to be young and pretty and carefree again!!! But I digress. My alarms didn't go off until I thought about what unlimited drinking, late-night bars and an older crowd, combined with not enough staff, could mean.
Because my DD is 15. And looks 18.
Her favorite part of the cruise was the freedom we gave her on the boat with the other Vibe teens.
No. Not good. The mind jumps to the worst case scenario. We could not give her the freedom of the boat, and of curfew, with this set up. Not. Going. To. Happen. I doubt I need to go into more detail here.
Now, I am not naive enough to think that the Disney Fantasy is absolutely safe at all times. But we do feel that the tone and tenor of the Fantasy, which is of younger families, mainly focused on them and their happiness, draws a particular group of folks. A group whose main goal isn't to par-tay. There is no unlimited drink package to be had. The ship basically goes to sleep at 11 pm. The craziest we've gotten is doing a martini tasting. The result for this middle-aged couple was a nap. We have made a decision that we feel the ship is safe enough for our daughter to make her own decisions about who she hangs out with, what they do and when she comes to bed, as long as she checks in with us once in awhile, goes to dinner with us, and is ready for our excursions. Again, YMMV.
One day we will definitely go on another cruise line. But our goals for this cruise, one of which is to allow our teen daughter some freedom in a relatively safe environment, are best served here, at DCL. I am NOT writing this to bash others cruise lines. Just to share my thinking on why, for now, we will be on the Fantasy again this Christmas. I will just have to get over myself, eat in Palo and Remy and Cabanas (such hardship!) when we can, and let the rest go!
Happy Cruising!
Maria
We sailed the Fantasy last Christmas, it was our second cruise on this ship and did not disappoint in any way. The first was 3 1/2 years ago. DS was now 20 so he did the 1820 Club and watched many movies, including the new release of Rogue 1, and DD was 14 and LOVED Vibe and hanging out with all the other teens, and the freedom that she enjoyed on the boat.
The decorations were stunning. I especially was wowed by the snow in the atrium one night! It was truly "magical." The ship, as before, was pristine. I did not notice any decline due to possible staff reductions, as had been mentioned here prior to our cruise. We literally never noticed a time or situation that needed more attention from the staff.
Our daughter caught a case of norovirus, and our experience in the health center was as excellent as could be expected. Fast, professional, caring, with effective medicine dispensed to help with the symptoms. The resulting quarantine graciously managed, including giving us the use of an additional room for our 86-year-old Grandmother, so she would not get sick too, which at her age could have been catastrophic.
I, however, felt SO constricted by the dining rotation. The food was always really, really good; (and we are small "f" foodies) it was more the lack of choice and time. I really don't like herding up and waiting in the crowd to go into the dining room, even though it is VERY well managed and quite quick. The Dining Rooms are absolutely spectacular, but I've seen them all before, and they are a bit loud and chaotic, and please hear me that I'm not referring to the children and their normal boisterousness. There are just a lot of tables, close together, in very large rooms. The service was good enough, but we don't have little kids to be wowed by tricks and such. Our team did what they were trained to do, interact with us (fawn on us?), but I prefer a more subtle service, and our conversations were often intruded upon to keep the pace of service up. We also felt quite hurried along, even though we were at the second seating. Lingering over dessert with our children (rare at this age) and a glass of wine was barely tolerated. But I get it. The way dinner is done is perfect for younger families. I don't fault Disney at all for this. And, I couldn't care less what other people wear to dinner. We dressed up a bit since it was the holidays.
If you've read this far, you might understand why I looked for a more adult-focused and less restricting cruise for this year. One where I could chose from many different restaurants and cuisines, and where I could determine the time to eat, and how long we stayed at our table. One with more mature shows perhaps, and live bands with dancing even. And how about some more activities like rock climbing and surf riders and the like? Not to mention the less expensive cost, even figuring in up charges for dining options, soda and the like. So I did my research, and booked us on NCL.
So what changed? I recently found cause to go on the forums again and look at recent cruisers' experiences for the particular ship we had booked. There have been some disturbing recounts of serious service lapses, ones that are totally attributable to the staff and the choices of the management. (For instance, only one gangplank down to exit the ship at a port, resulting in many missed excursions. One gangplank to embark, resulting in two hour waits in the rain, and many, many other reports of staff demoralized by personnel reductions with the resulting tired and dejected service.) But I've been on these forums long enough to know that unhappy experiences are the ones most often written about, so I read them with a degree of skepticism, and tried to suss out the truth from exaggeration.
So here's where it gets tricky. NCL has been heavily promoting a free Unlimited Drink Package offer this year as a way to increase bookings. Well, kind of free, you still pay tax and service of $199 pp. Sounded great to me at the time! Our biggest expense on DCL when checking out has been our bar bill. Included?! Count me in! Woot woot!!
But wait. What does that mean for the whole ship? What would the boat feel like if almost everyone has access to unlimited alcohol?
Well, the forums describe daily party time by the main pools that can often get quite raunchy (the word "grinding" is found quite often) starting in the mid afternoon. Loud DJ's blaring party tunes. Could be fun! And bars that stay open really, really late!! Awesome! Listen, I can claim no innocence in this regard from my own youth. Oh, to be young and pretty and carefree again!!! But I digress. My alarms didn't go off until I thought about what unlimited drinking, late-night bars and an older crowd, combined with not enough staff, could mean.
Because my DD is 15. And looks 18.
Her favorite part of the cruise was the freedom we gave her on the boat with the other Vibe teens.
No. Not good. The mind jumps to the worst case scenario. We could not give her the freedom of the boat, and of curfew, with this set up. Not. Going. To. Happen. I doubt I need to go into more detail here.
Now, I am not naive enough to think that the Disney Fantasy is absolutely safe at all times. But we do feel that the tone and tenor of the Fantasy, which is of younger families, mainly focused on them and their happiness, draws a particular group of folks. A group whose main goal isn't to par-tay. There is no unlimited drink package to be had. The ship basically goes to sleep at 11 pm. The craziest we've gotten is doing a martini tasting. The result for this middle-aged couple was a nap. We have made a decision that we feel the ship is safe enough for our daughter to make her own decisions about who she hangs out with, what they do and when she comes to bed, as long as she checks in with us once in awhile, goes to dinner with us, and is ready for our excursions. Again, YMMV.
One day we will definitely go on another cruise line. But our goals for this cruise, one of which is to allow our teen daughter some freedom in a relatively safe environment, are best served here, at DCL. I am NOT writing this to bash others cruise lines. Just to share my thinking on why, for now, we will be on the Fantasy again this Christmas. I will just have to get over myself, eat in Palo and Remy and Cabanas (such hardship!) when we can, and let the rest go!
Happy Cruising!
Maria
I am a little jealous; but going to Europe next year I can't complain too much. But the Christmas cruise of 2015 was by far the best Christmas our family has had.
