SWDAS Cruises - What are your thoughts?

[katellynne]

From all the reviews and comments I have been reading it sounds like DCL put less into their heavily advertised Star Wars Day at Sea than they do into the Pirate Night activities. Which is really confounding. I mean even BBB get's 'taken over' by the pirates so why not by the Dark Side? and to not have costumes for the main dining seems like a huge oversight. The other piece that really seems missing to me is the regular characters in SW costume. They do that for Pirate Night and for all the holiday themed sailings, why not SWDAS? And if you can get meet and greet tickets to Anna and Elsa or the Princesses you should be able to do the same for all the SW characters too...not just pick and choose and get assigned one. I don't really have a dog in the fight since I haven't been on a SWDAS cruise, but it feels disappointing based on what I am used to from DCL. I mean they even turn one of the bars on the Magic into the SNuggly Duckling when they show Tangled!! So it feels like they chose not to do some of these things for SWDAS.

 

[ahain]

We are in the 5th SWDAS sailing (March 5) I will be very interested to hear from the folks on the Feb 6 sailing to learn whether or not DCL has been listening to the feedback they have been receiving from less-than-delighted guests and are working to make improvements with each sailing.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

We are in the 5th SWDAS sailing (March 5) I will be very interested to hear from the folks on the Feb 6 sailing to learn whether or not DCL has been listening to the feedback they have been receiving from less-than-delighted guests and are working to make improvements with each sailing.

They did a few things different in our cruise from the first sailing as I understand it. For one, many people did receive 2 meet and greets instead of just one, and the meet and greets happened over two days. They were small tweaks though and not really any of the big changes they probably needed.

 

[Stasia5]

It looks like the guest speaker for today's SWDAS is Keith Kellogg who is a Lucasfilm Animation Supervisor on Star Wars Rebels. I hope this stays the trend and we don't end up with Wendy on our Feb. 20th cruise.

 

[stitch'sgirl]

I too, expected a "Star Wars Weekend Lite". We are on the April 2 sailing. I was hoping for James Arnold Taylor, or similar as a speaker. They could have done so much more with the evening show like Hyperspace Hoopla they used to do at SWW. Everyone seemed to love that and they did away with it. Oh well..

 

[fab1976]

They did a few things different in our cruise from the first sailing as I understand it. For one, many people did receive 2 meet and greets instead of just one, and the meet and greets happened over two days. They were small tweaks though and not really any of the big changes they probably needed.

They had 2 meet and greets over 2 days for people on the first one too. I just know some were overlooked and got none or just one, but a lot got 2 on the Wednesday as well as the Thursday. We did, Boba Fett on the Wednesday and Captain Phasma on the Thursday. We really thought the Dark Side would be Vader and were disappointed yet thought it was cool to meet a new character. She was actually pretty interactive, my little 2 year old girl went running into the "set" and ran in circles around her. Prompted her to comment on how her innocent ways don't impress her but they may fool the resistance. The guy before us went in and posed with his chin up, arms behind his back type stance and she circled him commenting on if he would make a good soldier. We were happy with that experience, didn't feel like just a photo op. DH had to go to Boba by himself and he said it was just a photo op. So as cool and classic as Vader is, don't groan if you see Phasma, you may be pleasantly surprised.

For the roaming characters, we didn't get out until the afternoon due to illness, but it was a good thing because the enthusiasts weren't as plentiful and the storm troopers weren't as in demand. DH and DS had fun looking for and chasing them down.

 

[asunutgirl]

We are on the April 2nd sailing as well. We booked this cruise 16 months in advance - before it was a Star Wars themed cruise. We are fans but not obsessed. Sounds like I need to plan my massage for the SWDAS day! I'm just happy to be sailing so whatever the SWDAS is will be a bonus.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

They had 2 meet and greets over 2 days for people on the first one too. I just know some were overlooked and got none or just one, but a lot got 2 on the Wednesday as well as the Thursday.

Ok. So it may have just been the person I talked to only got one. That means they learned nothing. :-(

BTW I should have mentioned, I found a few roaming characters on 3, 4 and 5 during SWDAS. A have a great photo with some imperial agents. Also saw Zam Wesell working her way around trying to stay hidden (but too easily spotted for photo ops) and Fett.

 

[PryncessLace]

It looks like the guest speaker for today's SWDAS is Keith Kellogg who is a Lucasfilm Animation Supervisor on Star Wars Rebels. I hope this stays the trend and we don't end up with Wendy on our Feb. 20th cruise.

I'm sorry to hear you were treated that way by that group. We were originally scheduled to be on that cruise (but had to change dates), and I was really sad to leave the group b/c of how awesome everyone was. As a sidenote, I'm going to have my dad read this thread, as he was pretty bummed that we switched to a non SWDAS cruise. This might make him feel better about changing dates.

 

[Stasia5]

I'm sorry to hear you were treated that way by that group. We were originally scheduled to be on that cruise (but had to change dates), and I was really sad to leave the group b/c of how awesome everyone was. As a sidenote, I'm going to have my dad read this thread, as he was pretty bummed that we switched to a non SWDAS cruise. This might make him feel better about changing dates.

A review I've seen from yesterday's SWDAS is stating not much, if anything, has changed from the last two sailings. Maybe if Disney does these again, they'll have learned from their mistakes.

As for our cruise group, it's only been a few people who have been rude. The vast majority have been great!

 

[jxhide]

A review I've seen from yesterday's SWDAS is stating not much, if anything, has changed from the last two sailings. Maybe if Disney does these again, they'll have learned from their mistakes.

As for our cruise group, it's only been a few people who have been rude. The vast majority have been great!

do you have a link to the review?

 

[Stasia5]

If you search for #starwarsdayatsea either on Google or Twitter, you'll find what I'm referring to. Not really a formal review, but someone's thoughts as they went thru the day. They end with 'Lower your Expectations'.

 

[chunkymonkey]

We're on the Feb 20th sailing. We're super excited but I have adjusted my expectations for the day. The lack of a "cantina" was probably the biggest disappointing news for me, but I'm looking forward mostly to the dinner, fireworks, and interaction with other fans! I'm excited to see all the guest costumes and hanging with other members of SW geekdom. I got to NY Comic Con every year and I love looking at everyone's costumes!

 

[jxhide]

I was on the 1/23 sailing & while we had a good time, we were disappointed. I will be up front I'm by no means a Star Wars super fan, but I enjoy it. DH really loves Star Wars.

In my mind I assumed you'd get to meet all the characters you wanted if you were willing to wait in line as they do with the other characters which of course wasn't the case. I only realized of course this wasn't happening when the 1st cruise returned & reported back. We met Darth Maul @ 9:50 on Wednesday & Chewbaca @ 1:30 on Thursday (which was right after our Palo brunch which I didn't like as we didn't have enough time to go back to the room to change so we're in dress clothes & not our Star Wars tshirts). You had no say in the times or who you were able to see which is disappointing. Now the CM did allow one person in our group to go in early to see Boba Fett as he ended at 1:30& then allowed someone in the group before us to wait for Chewbaca, so they pretty much flip flopped- this seemed to work because of the timing & that this particular CM allowed it as it did not happen with the CM on Wednesday. I also assumed there would be cool backdrops for these characters since they were in private rooms, but it was just a screen.

DH went to see some of the later night Star Wars movies initially (those after 10:30p), but he reported that there were a lot of upset little crying kids which made it hard to watch the movies. We totally get its a Disney cruise, but had assumed less kids at a late night show. I think parents wanted to experience the movies of their generation with kids that the thought would enjoy it or they hoped they'd sleep- it didn't seem to happen. So DH stopped going to the movies. Now our friends that went with us gave it another try only to be seated by a young kid that kept telling his parents loudly over & over he had to go "poop," only to be told to wait & he eventually went in his pants. My friends said the smell was horrible & the parents still didn't take the kid to the bathroom. That was their last movie.

We did go to the am Pablo Hildago session & this was quite interesting, but there was no meet & greet or autograph session. I actually would've bought his book if it had been sold.

The dinner was great & the menu itself was cool to look at. The staff were not dressed up, but had on Star Wars name badges.

The night time show was nice to see all the characters, but they only walked out did a little twirl & went back in pretty much. Then all came out at the end together. It was very crowded.

The Star Wars buffet afterwards was quite disappointing. It was only open until 11:30!! By the time you could actually get there (we were on deck 12), the lines were so long & they closed one side of Cabanas at 11:15! Then they directed you to the other side which closed at 11:30. Very weird especially considering the show started at 10:15p & was done after the fireworks around 10:45p.

I think if you go into this knowing it's a Disney Cruise with some Star Wars bonuses it's great. If you go into this thinking Star Wars is the headliner you will be disappointed. It's not worth the premium they charged.

Were you able to get into the buffet? Did they turn you away at 11:30pm if you were still in line then?

 

[Angeejoe]

Were you able to get into the buffet? Did they turn you away at 11:30pm if you were still in line then?

We walked in about 11:05-11:10p, we found a table, DH sat down & I went up to buffet. When I returned DH went up to the buffet & was told it was closed. They pulled the screens down as he walked up, pulled them down in front of a buffet full of food & told him he had to walk around to the other side. I thought that was dumb. Now when we've eaten in cabanas for breakfast or lunch someone always came around right before & said the buffet was closing on this side if you'd like to make a selection before it closed to do so now- there was nothing like that done at the late night buffet (not calling it a midnight buffet as it was even open that late, lol).

Many people came in after 11:30 very disappointed & walked out with nothing. I heard many comment about what a waste of time.

I'm not sure if this is how the Pirate Night Buffet is run as on our last cruise we didn't go or if this was specific to Star Wars, so we wanted to check it out this time.

 

[Winston Wolf]

I like Star Wars, but in no way would I go out of my way to book a SWDAS cruise, especially not at an increased price.

 

[Stasia5]

We're on the Feb 20th sailing. We're super excited but I have adjusted my expectations for the day. The lack of a "cantina" was probably the biggest disappointing news for me, but I'm looking forward mostly to the dinner, fireworks, and interaction with other fans! I'm excited to see all the guest costumes and hanging with other members of SW geekdom. I got to NY Comic Con every year and I love looking at everyone's costumes!

My family is dressing up and also looking forward to seeing the costumes of other guest. Since there aren't a lot of characters to meet, I'm hoping fellow cruisers are willing to take photos with us.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

My family is dressing up and also looking forward to seeing the costumes of other guest. Since there aren't a lot of characters to meet, I'm hoping fellow cruisers are willing to take photos with us.

Most of the people dressed up on our cruise were proud of the effort that they put into it and were happy to pose with you for a picture.

There were a few that I wouldn't want pictures of and I was thinking "Why did you bother?"

 

[Stasia5]

Hoping those returning from the 3rd cruise can share their experience. On another thread I saw someone state the Jedi Training Academy has gone from 16 kids per session to 30. I still don't think that's enough, but at least more kids can participate now.

 

[MelJim2]

I was on one of the SWDAS sailings and I was disappointed in many things and thought they did a very poor job considering how high quality Disney usually is. I don't understand why they made it so hard to see the characters. For all they hype and the extra cost they could have done way more than they did. They should have had more characters wandering around and more than just renaming food on a menu. Sorry Disney but you lost this fan on future cruises.