Tell me Not to Worry - we will enjoy the crusie

[AverysMommy]

Ok - so I have been wanting to go on a Disney Cruise for 7 years.....been waiting for my kids to get to the perfect age - 5 and 8. We booked the Western 7 day cruise for October 20th 2007 and everyone is very excited.

UNTIL I started reading the DIS boards - now I am really getting worried that I have been caught up in the Marketing.

Here is what I have learned from the boards:

- serious risk of bed bugs and we need to ensure we dont bring our luggage in the house after the cruise
- food is not all that great - best food seems to be with room service (and Palo which I cant take my kids to)
- a real mixed bag on the quality of the servers - probably will need to wait for wine, etc
- excursions through Disney are over priced
- pool is very crowded and you can only really use the one with the water slide at off-peak times
- my dinner is the late time slot so my kids will probably sleep through most meals
- the really good kid activities are difficult to get into - there can be long line ups with 30-45 minute waits to do them
- lots of photo ops with characters but again - 45 minute waits to do each one and the Disney photos are very expensive (people say they spend $500-1,000 on pictures)

HELP ME to stop worrying - this is a small fortune for us and I need it to be a GREAT time for everyone. I hope I dont get off the cruise and think that I could have better spent my $$ going to WDW....(we have been to WDW 3 times with the kids and absolutely loved it....we are true Disney fans)

Thanks
Worry Wart!

 

[DVCconvert]

Dear Worry Wart;

Don't worry. You'll enjoy the cruise.


Sincerely,

Go Withe Flow
Professional rational thinker

 

[jag90]

AM,
Relax, it will be what you make of it. We are going on the 3-day early may and it is our 5th and the kids 4th. Remember if you do happen to stand in a line enjoy your surroundings. Even a crowded Mickey pool is better than the empty one at home. Pictures can be expensive, but limit it to really must haves. They will take plenty.

 

[Janjan]

I think you're going through and picking out any negative comments there might have been, when there are a thousand positives for each negative. Will you enjoy the cruise?? Can't tell you 100% that you will, but 99.9% do. There's that whole self fulfilling prophecy thing that might get you. Sorry, just my two cents.

 

[NCardella]

There are worries to every vacation. Don't get caught up in them, and don't fret over what is not in your control, just deal with them IF they arise.

We have been on 3 DCL cruises, two 4day, and 1 7day:

1. We have never encountered bedbugs

2. Never had a problem with food. Never expected it to be like dining at Ruth's Chris each night. We thoroughly enjoyed all our meals

3. Our servers were always awesome. However, we have very social kids and always made great conversation and treated them like friends. I think that's the key to good service, if you are great guests, they'll return the sentiment.

4. In all 3 cruises we only did one DCL excursion, the Atlantis aquarium tour in the Bahamas. worth the price. All other destinations we either stay on the ship or find a taxi to a beach. We do things "on the cheap". The ship is the vacation for me, I don't need to get off in port to enjoy it

5. yes, the pools are crowded. But the kids were mostly in the kids clubs and we could enjoy the adult pool, or they liked the mickey slide so much they spent most of their time there.

6. I never had a late seating so can't comment here, but I would suggest you stay on the early seating waiting list and see if you can keep calling to get that.

7. We have NEVER had a problem getting into the kids clubs. Allow yourself enough time to check them in and get to wherever you are going next.

8. We did wait for several characters, but check the itinerary for the times and try to get there ahead of time. I have never spent more than $50 at Shutters. The photographers on board are gracious enough to let you stand right where they stand and take your own pictures. On our second cruise, I never stepped foot into shutters, so I wouldn't have to fight temptation. I feel like that money could be better spent elsewhere. Like I said, we do it on the cheap and paying for photos that I can take myself is wasted money.

Don't worry, it'll be a vacation of a lifetime!

 

[cristit14]

Don't worry so much. If you are able to go with the flow you will be fine. Some things are over hyped and different people have different experiences. I thought the food was fine. There wasn't a meal that I had that I didn't have at least one thing that I really liked. There wasn't anything that was terrible. We didn't do any of the character photos except for a family picture with Capt Mickey and Minnie and it was nowhere near a 45 min wait, maybe 20 minutes.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

you have to remeber that everyone has different tastes and expectations...don't worry...you will have fun....

i know plenty of people that spend hundreds of dollars on photos but for the most part you can take your own with your camera...i usually buy the smallest package for $85 ( or less) and really pick the best photos from our trip....just think...you can't display all of them!

i think the food is great! some nights i like the choices better than others ut there is plenty of variety all over the boat...you will find food to like...especially all the exotic food and fruits!


I think most servers are really nice...yes, some do more with kids than others but it shoud not be a factor that makes or breaks your cruise....if you really end up with awful services you can ask the dining manger to change...

the bed bugs story is the first i have heard like that and could happen anywhere in a ny hotel so unless you want to never leave your home it is a very small risk to take....if bedbugs were very prevalent we would have heard more about them here...

excursions are expensive...you pay more to have disney organize your experience and promise the ship will not leave without you if you get stuck somewhere on your excursion....however, many ports are easily managed on your own and fellow DISers will be glad to tell you reputable travel places and arrangements for the ports you are visiting...don't be scared to explore on your own with your own timetable for the day!

yes the pool can be crowded sometimes but my kids liked playing with new friends and doing things with other kids rather than being all alone...one of the advantages of late dining is that the pools are empty when it gets closer to early dining time and you can still make the show!

late dining is not that bad....if your kids are really small, encourage them to take an afternoon nap...we had late dining with a 3 and 5 year old and they did just fine...besides if it is really that important, you can go stright to the bar and ask to be changed as soon as you are onboard....you should try to get on the waiting list for early now....

character photo ops are just like WDW...you wait in line (seems forever) but at least it is in airconditionig most of the time and not blinding outdoor heat! alot of time you do not have to wait that long for all characters....

the ultimate thing is to have fun and nnot stress over the details....take each day as it comes and have fun with you family and RELAX!!!

 

[DVCconvert]

Ok - now a more serious addressing of your concerns;

- serious risk of bed bugs and we need to ensure we dont bring our luggage in the house after the cruise

===>not true. Sure, it could happen, but no more (and perhaps LESS) likely to then staying in any hotel.

- food is not all that great - best food seems to be with room service (and Palo which I cant take my kids to)

===>The food is fine. Unless your a foodie looking for world class offerings, you'll be fine.

- a real mixed bag on the quality of the servers - probably will need to wait for wine, etc

===>You won't wait any longer for wine/bev then you might at any restaurant. Quality as a term may be a subsitiute for how well the relationship developed between a guest and a server - treat them as you'd want to be treated and odds are everything will be fine.

- excursions through Disney are over priced

===>If it's "disney" it will be pricey - but you also generally can rely on a level of safety and enjoyment that other cheaper things may not have

- pool is very crowded and you can only really use the one with the water slide at off-peak times

===>Pools are smaller on a cruise ship than at WDW (naturally) so they likely will always be busy, but I'm sure you can find sometime to enjoy them

- my dinner is the late time slot so my kids will probably sleep through most meals

===>Why not try to change you seating time? either ahead of time or once on board?

- the really good kid activities are difficult to get into - there can be long line ups with 30-45 minute waits to do them

===>Why does this remind me of the lines at 'the good rides' in the MK?
Yes somethings are more popular - but you're not automatically excluded from having a shot at booking them

- lots of photo ops with characters but again - 45 minute waits to do each one and the Disney photos are very expensive (people say they spend $500-1,000 on pictures)

===>you can have photos with the characters taken with YOUR own camera - therefore, no 'disney photos' to pay for.


HTH

 

[Mom24Princesses]

See my comments bellow.

Ok - so I have been wanting to go on a Disney Cruise for 7 years.....been waiting for my kids to get to the perfect age - 5 and 8. We booked the Western 7 day cruise for October 20th 2007 and everyone is very excited.

Much like you we planned for 6 years for youngest DD to be old enough.

UNTIL I started reading the DIS boards - now I am really getting worried that I have been caught up in the Marketing.

Here is what I have learned from the boards:

- serious risk of bed bugs and we need to ensure we dont bring our luggage in the house after the cruise

I don't think serious risk is correct. I think it is the same as any hotel out there.--NOT VERY GREAT when you think of how many are traveling.


- food is not all that great - best food seems to be with room service (and Palo which I cant take my kids to)

We liked almost all our food and were never hungry - EVERYONE in our party. DD 8.5 loved ordering off adult menus.

- a real mixed bag on the quality of the servers - probably will need to wait for wine, etc

I think that most are satisfactory at least--some hear stories of mini shows at dinner everynight and when they have just good service they are disappointed. Others may have some one new, or a little under the weather , or missing home a lot -- like a new baby at home they've never seen and they are not as up as others. I truly believe that this is not the usual case.

- excursions through Disney are over priced

I compared prices on some site that had prices for all major cruise lines and DCL excursions were a little under some of those. Like most things, it is always cheaper to do it on your own than paying a middle-man.

- pool is very crowded and you can only really use the one with the water slide at off-peak times

Yes and no. Our girls swam where they wanted when they wanted. I did not plan to park myself in a lounger by the Mickey pool. It was more crowded on CC IMHO.

- my dinner is the late time slot so my kids will probably sleep through most meals

Can't help you there. Let them take a nap/rest around 5:00-5:30 with lights out TV and they may surprise you. MANY, MANY people with kids are at 2nd seating every night!


- the really good kid activities are difficult to get into - there can be long line ups with 30-45 minute waits to do them

I have no idea where this came from. We had a couple of times when the lines were long to get them in or out but I never heard anything like this.


- lots of photo ops with characters but again - 45 minute waits to do each one and the Disney photos are very expensive (people say they spend $500-1,000 on pictures)

I don't recall a character sticking around for 45 minutes. We got some good ones with short or no waits. We did not work for it, just happened to find them.

HELP ME to stop worrying - this is a small fortune for us and I need it to be a GREAT time for everyone. I hope I dont get off the cruise and think that I could have better spent my $$ going to WDW....(we have been to WDW 3 times with the kids and absolutely loved it....we are true Disney fans)

As our trip was drawing close I began to have doubts about the amount of $$,$$$ I was spending and would we regret it, would it not live up to the hipe? The answer is no! We had been calling it our once-in-a-life-time trip. As you can see, we are going again.

Thanks
Worry Wart!

 

[Rogillio]

Well some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope!

We've never had problems with bugs BUT.....we did see a mouse walking down the hall one time! Yeah! I'm serious!!! Mouse walking right down the hall!!!! He was about 5' tall and walking around like he owned the place!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Ok - so I have been wanting to go on a Disney Cruise for 7 years.....been waiting for my kids to get to the perfect age - 5 and 8. We booked the Western 7 day cruise for October 20th 2007 and everyone is very excited.

UNTIL I started reading the DIS boards - now I am really getting worried that I have been caught up in the Marketing.

Here is what I have learned from the boards:

- serious risk of bed bugs and we need to ensure we dont bring our luggage in the house after the cruise
- food is not all that great - best food seems to be with room service (and Palo which I cant take my kids to)
- a real mixed bag on the quality of the servers - probably will need to wait for wine, etc
- excursions through Disney are over priced
- pool is very crowded and you can only really use the one with the water slide at off-peak times
- my dinner is the late time slot so my kids will probably sleep through most meals
- the really good kid activities are difficult to get into - there can be long line ups with 30-45 minute waits to do them
- lots of photo ops with characters but again - 45 minute waits to do each one and the Disney photos are very expensive (people say they spend $500-1,000 on pictures)

HELP ME to stop worrying - this is a small fortune for us and I need it to be a GREAT time for everyone. I hope I dont get off the cruise and think that I could have better spent my $$ going to WDW....(we have been to WDW 3 times with the kids and absolutely loved it....we are true Disney fans)

Thanks
Worry Wart!

O.K. we've sailed 5 times.......East, West and Bahamas...........NEVER had bed bugs, never worried about bringing the luggage in the house....

Food was good, if you are unsure order 2 meals, many time I wasn't quite sure what I wanted and they simply said "order both". And I did.......

NEVER have we had a "server problem". Actually they were AWSOME.......The first night I rolled up a 20 for the server and asst. handed them it with a handshake and said "you take care of us and I'll take care of you". Every night I had a Mojito and 4 miller lites in a wine bucket sitting at the table when we showed up to eat.....

Excursions may be a little more but you are "safe". Last sailing we went to Costa Maya and some of the non DCL excursions had some "issues".....we did a snorkle and LOVED it! Every excursion we took was great on all 5 sailings.....

The pools ARE crowded on sea days, actually, the pools aren't that busy but finding chairs are the difficult thing. We sailed with neighbors who have younger kids and they were able utilize the slide without any trouble......if you are wooried about the price of excursions and crowed pools stay on the ship one day while in port, you should be one of few on it....no crowds at all!
Killing 2 birds w/one stone....

My DDs never went to the clubs when younger....now (17 and 15) they hang there ALL the time so I can't help you with that.

We had early on our first sailing in 2000 and will never do it again......Remember we have 2 DDS.....ou know haw long it takes 3 women to get ready? Actually, a few sailings ago we had just got back from a PERFECT day of snorkeling, I was sipping a miller lite by the internet cafe checking up on my DD when I heard yelling on the stairway, it was a Mom Dad kids and Grandma and Grandpa running down the stairs yelling "hurry up we are going to be late AGAIN!" Typically, if you go to shore excursions get back at 4 or 5 (CC closes at 4) that gives you 1 1/2 hours to showr, change and get ready......If you want pics before i will NEVER happen, at least not w/my 3. We LOVE late!

We buy a "package" for photos, I think 20 for around 100 bucks and we ALWAYS get x-mas post cards made up (We sail Thanksgiving week or the week after) that runs around another 100 bucks......I swear they know who a first times sailing and who aren't, we barely ran in photographers on our last 3 sailings!

Stop worrying, order a few bottles of wine and ENJOY!!!!!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Well some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope!

We've never had problems with bugs BUT.....we did see a mouse walking down the hall one time! Yeah! I'm serious!!! Mouse walking right down the hall!!!! He was about 5' tall and walking around like he owned the place!

LOVE THAT

 

[LCTsMom]

AverysMommy, please don't worry. I agree with everyone else, take all the horror stories with a grain of salt. The cruise will be what you make of it. We had an absolute blast on our first cruise last September. The only complaint I had was that it was TOO SHORT! We can't wait to go back!

Relax and enjoy!

 

[professorandmom]

As I read the title of your thread I thought, if you are a cranky curmudgeon that feels nothing is worth what you pay (my ex-mother in law, perhaps) you won't enjoy the cruise.
Period
As a person whose job performance is partly evaluated by opinion surveys, no matter how great, you can't make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time.
Barb

 

[Anal Annie]

As I read your post I kept thinking "what board is SHE reading"?! You have seriously only picked out some of the most negative comments ever made and gathered them all into a list. You need to drop all of these negative thoughts NOW or you will ruin your cruise for not only yourself but your entire family! We absolutely LOVED our DCL cruise - and look at how many other Dis'ers love them! This board is not made up of only people who had a bad time!

There are some people in this world that just can't figure out how to take lemons and make lemonade out of them. Some people are just born complainers and are always going to be over everything in life and they are never, ever happy and they probably have a very high opinion of themselves.

When we went last time we were at the largest table in whole dining room (seats 15) and everyone was perfectly happy, delighted in fact with their meals and our servers except for ONE couple. They were 15-20 min. late EVERY evening (which is rude if you're consistent with it) and they both sent their meals back EVERY single evening. When the other 12 at your table have no complaints? Come on! Every evening? Seriously. That's uncalled for!! Our servers knew from experience what to expect from this couple by the 2nd nite and they smiled quite graciously and did their very best to keep them happy. And honestly, they really had to put so much effort into trying to keep that one couple happy with all of their requests & "could I have this" and "could you bring me that" that our servers had to work twice as hard to keep up for the rest of us. I mean, this couple didn't give them a break for a minute - and I'd be willing to bet that they tipped poorly too 'cuz they felt they were justified because they HAD to send their meals back every nite. I felt BAD asking for anything extra because they were already running at full speed and were being monopolized by this one couple - but I admired how well they handled the situation. The food we had on the Magic was WONDERFUL. Seriously. It was quite good. When you think about HOW MANY meals are being prepared in one evening?! Of course there's going to be the odd piece of prime rib with too much fat. Or the one batch of veggies that got steamed for a minute too long. We were impressed with the overall quality and consistency of our meals.

You just really need to stop worrying about the petty comments you've read and go into it with an open mind. Unless it's a private pool what pool ISN'T crowded in the summer? Where in WDW have you ever NOT waited a few minutes to see a character? Disney in general is not cheap - but we believe in the magic and that you get what you pay for with them! Please have fun and don't WORRY!!! DCL is awesome!

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

I have to agree with what everyone on this thread has been telling you. We have sailed three times on the Wonder and this year will be our fourth. (Four times in Four Years!). Each year we have added more and more friends and family to our traveling group. In fact, my mother actually took our entire family on the Wonder for my father's 75th birthday. It was fabulous! My parents have been on the Wonder with us twice and are going on the Magic with us next year (our 5th cruise). Every family that came with us last year are going again this summer (booked onboard) and we have added some newcomers. As far as dinner seating is concerned, we are changing from main seating to second seating - too much of a rush for us to eat at 6:00. Relax, enjoy your cruise, take your own pictures, buy a few souvenirs (if you want) and book only the excursions you really want to do. Have a great time!!

 

[barbmouse]

HI!! We sailed DCL last summer after years of reading and research. None of us had ever cruised at all before and I wanted to do DCL first because we too are Disney geeks. We had the time of our lives!! My dh (who was a bit apprehensive($$$) but loves Disney), dd,ds and I would all go again and hope to soon..nothing booked yet. We loved our room, the food, kid's club, pools, excursions, etc.

Take what you learn here and let it help you be prepared for your trip but go in thinking how WONDER-ful and MAGIC-al it will be for your family!! I just bet you'll all love it!

 

[Disney-For-Life]

You are going to have a good laugh at your concerns once you have experienced a Disney cruise. There is nothing like it, you'll see. Try and think positive thoughts and allow yourself to be excited - this IS a big trip and you are going to be blown away, believe me.

 

[Beck's mom]

ONE person posted an unsubstantiated report of bed bugs on the Disney cruise line. How can you take that as a serious risk?

The poster admitted she never saw any bugs in her cabin, and she never got a doctor to say they were bedbugs. It could have been any number of things to cause the marks she claims are bedbug bites.

I can't believe anyone would take that as seriously as you are and even worry about it!

Don't ever believe everything you read on the internet!

 

[misseulalie]

I've been on this board since 2005 and I have only seen one post about bed bugs. (the post from a few weeks ago).

You are sailing during school, so the pools and clubs will be less crowded for the kids. I have never encountered a problem with my kids getting into the club or not being able to participate in an activity. If you don't want late dining, switch as soon as you get onboard.

We had late dining on our first cruise. Yes, DD did fall asleep, but we enjoyed it because at home, we never get to go to dinner without the kids.

Enjoy yourselves and don't worry!!!!

Plus, I have never spent more than $175 at Shutters.