We always end up back with DCL

[John VN]

Thank you for putting the bug in my ear about MSC having a two-bedroom option!

Agreed. Thanks @John VN for those pricing comparisons. 2-bed/2-bath is interesting.

We've never cruised Aurea but have heard that for the price and benefits many feel it's an ok value but YMMV.

We were spoiled with DCL Concierge and Royal Sky and Oceania and only cruise YC now.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I wasnt talking about the wbta though, but the May EBTA of this year. It fell very personal because the same character would be nice to others. But where the personal approach used to be DCLs strengrh for many years it feels like now its becoming its weakness. I ve never experienced the -picking favorites- pre Covid (may be in their heads and backstage but it was never visible, everyone was treated to a fair share of magic.)

The May cruise in the one I’m referring to . The staff was clearly stressed - it seemed like there were more character appearances than normal and the observation was later confirmed by the CD. Some of those appearances were scheduled unusually late.

There was clearly an issue with guest etiquette, as I described in my previous post. I could add many others to the list - like the handicap guy who kept cutting the line. At first they were very attentive to him but late in the cruise it was obvious it was becoming an annoyance.

Hope you had a great cruise overall, personally I thought it was too notch (although I don’t do character meet-and-greets or photo ops).

 

[Retiredcruiser]

Star Class on RCCL is amazing, especially with the Genie (butler) that they give you.

Concierge on DCL simply can’t compete with that level of elevated service.

The lower level of service on RCCL (Sky Class) matches more closely with DCL’s Concierge. Nice and efficient, usually. But does not compare with the Genie and extra Star Class benefits (specialty dining, etc.).

We still love DCL (even non-Concierge), but if I’m looking at taking a RCCL Star Class cruise versus DCL Concierge, I’m going with RCCL.

I would clarify, Star Class on RCCL would be amazing if you receive the level of service they advertise. We did not and as a result will never sail with RCCL again.

When sailing DCL, we only sail Concierge class and RCCL including the "Genie" doesn't even come close to the quality of DCL service.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

The May cruise in the one I’m referring to . The staff was clearly stressed - it seemed like there were more character appearances than normal and the observation was later confirmed by the CD. Some of those appearances were scheduled unusually late.

There was clearly an issue with guest etiquette, as I described in my previous post. I could add many others to the list - like the handicap guy who kept cutting the line. At first they were very attentive to him but late in the cruise it was obvious it was becoming an annoyance.

Hope you had a great cruise overall, personally I thought it was too notch (although I don’t do character meet-and-greets or photo ops).

Hmm I didnt notice a handicapped’guy that kept cutting the line nor’an asiannguy that didnt change clothes haha (the last one I did notice on the one last September which caused my confusion hehe)
I had a major issue with a smelly room on that TA which took them literally until day 10 to give us another one. It smelled like sewer and plenty of workmen and several officers came down and they couldnt solve it… they kept telling us they didnt have any alternative room for us but worst was that the smell was there already on the afternoon of embark… and it was clear our stateroom host was aware of the existing problem.
It was also my first cruise having to use my walker and accessability was def not as hood as I had imagined. Catching characters on strolls is horror since they keep moving around while you re waiting for an elevator and the staircase characterline goes over the steps in front of the restaurant so involved dragging my rollator up and doN those stairs…

 

[John VN]

I would clarify, Star Class on RCCL would be amazing if you receive the level of service they advertise. We did not and as a result will never sail with RCCL again.

When sailing DCL, we only sail Concierge class and RCCL including the "Genie" doesn't even come close to the quality of DCL service.

Sorry that your STAR did not live up to the hype.

r.e. bold -- I cannot recall hearing about negative experiences when speaking to cruisers who have sailed STAR or SKY, HAVEN, DCL Concierge, RETREAT .... when on our MSC YC cruises. Everyone had enjoyed their experiences but the overwhelming subject matter has always focused on the VALUE of YC and the positive Crew interaction when compared to the others

 

[Retiredcruiser]

That's great to hear about the other lines, thank you for sharing. We have heard positive reviews from HAL and some of the others you mentioned with RCCL being the exception. When the service level of the "Genie" is sub-par coupled with bad premium food and an overflowing toilet in your downstairs suite bathroom well you get the picture of what we experienced RCCL refers to as the best they have to offer.

 

[bakerworld]

We've talked so much about how we enjoy DCL that our son wants to experience it. He's a vampire so I am thinking DCL won't be for him.

 

[Girl of the South]

Maybe he’d like a Halloween On The High Seas cruise?

 

[mmmears]

Up until a few weeks ago I'd never sailed on any line but DCL. I was worried that nothing would be as good. We recently returned from a 7nt Norwegian fjords cruise on Celebrity. It had IMHO a better itinerary and a better timeframe for me than DCL's this summer so we took the leap. We were in the Retreat on one of the newer ships and we LOVED it! I don't have a child anymore, and I don't need to see the characters. Having fewer kids and a dedicated restaurant and sundeck for suites really worked well for us.

So, if you're wondering, do your research and give it a try.

ETA - I've booked a future cruise on a 3rd cruise line - now that I know I can be happy without DCL I'm open to trying a few new cruise lines. It's happy news for me, because I've been unhappy with DCL's very limited itineraries for a long time.

 

[CarolynU]

That hurts to even read but I’d give the performers the benefit of the doubt and write their behavior off as being exhausted. The lion’s share of the passengers on this cruise were adult DCL veterans many (most?) of whom regularly travel the the Transatlantics. I even talked with a couple who are traveling with the Wonder for 26-days from Vancouver to Sydney, flying to London, and immediately getting on the 13-day WBTA!

I’m certain you remember the beautiful young Japanese lady and her elaborate Disney-inspired outfits. She attempted to meet every character and turned each session into a photo op. Alternatively, there was the young man who didn’t bother to changes his clothes thought the entire cruise. The stench was noticeable and toward the end of the cruise, it was obvious the characters and their handlers were trying to avoid him.

Ultimately, just a bunch of adults needier than children and I think it wore the cast out. I wouldn’t take it personally .

I remember both those people from more than one cruise. If I remember rightly the Japanese young lady had her mother with her too, so there was always a routine. The young lady would gesture to the character exactly the pose that she wanted. When they were ready she would mirror their pose. Then the mother would use a large camera to take photos and then the girl changed the pose that she wanted and repeat. Then this would all be repeated again with a phone camera and then finally with the professional photographer! It took forever, and quite frustrated the other guests waiting.
Then she would go and change into a matching outfit for whichever character she wanted to meet next and off it went again.
I also remember the guy without any change of clothes too. I think that he had some sort of special needs, but by the end of the cruise particularly the longer ones it was tricky.

 

[tink1970]

We're doing our first cruise with the kids on the new Celebrity Ascent over Thanksgiving and your post is scaring me! Can you elaborate on what was so bad? We had a DCL booked last year but cancelled b/c it was so much more expensive than the Celebrity.

Sorry for the delay-just returned from the DCL Norwegian cruise! I think my big mistake with Celebrity was cruising out of Miami on a shorter itinerary on an older ship. Despite being in a suite it just wasn't for me...that said, I've heard wonderful things about the newer ships-enough to perhaps maybe possibly give them another try (probably not but I've decided to never say never).

Since I believe the Ascent is new- you will likely really enjoy it, especially if you're on an itinerary you're excited about (I also wasn't excited about our stops)-I was trying out Celebrity mainly for the ship experience itself so since I didn't like the ship -old, as mentioned above OR the ports so it was a losing proposition from the outset in retrospect! All of the blame falls squarely on my shoulders honestly. Please don't let my poor decisions scare you and I hope you have an amazing time

 

[Hubie]

I remember both those people from more than one cruise. If I remember rightly the Japanese young lady had her mother with her too, so there was always a routine. The young lady would gesture to the character exactly the pose that she wanted. When they were ready she would mirror their pose. Then the mother would use a large camera to take photos and then the girl changed the pose that she wanted and repeat. Then this would all be repeated again with a phone camera and then finally with the professional photographer! It took forever, and quite frustrated the other guests waiting.
Then she would go and change into a matching outfit for whichever character she wanted to meet next and off it went again.
I also remember the guy without any change of clothes too. I think that he had some sort of special needs, but by the end of the cruise particularly the longer ones it was tricky.

Yes, we've experienced both passengers on more than one of our DCL cruises. The Japanese girl at least on four of our cruises. I can't begin to imagine how many pics she has of herself and the characters.

 

[Memepoppy]

We have cruised DCl, RCCL, and Princess. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. We've had good and bad cruises on all. We moved to Royal when our grandkids got too old for the activities on Disney and Royal offered more for the teens (rock walls, flow rider, more pools, more water slides, etc.). Went to Princess for Alaska due to better itineraries and the reputation in Alaska. Add to the fact that both Princess and Royal are significantly less expensive than Disney. We are taking an 8 day Royal out of Port Canaveral in January (just the wife and I). Since we were going to be on the east coast anyhow, we figured we'd take a second cruise. We looked at the 5 day Disney Wish but we could get the same cruise itinerary (with the exception of the private island visited) on Royal's Utopia of the Seas for well oner $1000 less. This was for same cabin category (open view balcony, high deck, front of ship). Had they been reasonably close in price we'd have cruised Disney as we do like their product and hadn't cruised on the Wish. We just don't feel that in our situation the price difference is justified. When our grandkids were younger and at the "Disney Age", it was a no brainer.

 

[pangyal]

I would clarify, Star Class on RCCL would be amazing if you receive the level of service they advertise. We did not and as a result will never sail with RCCL again.

When sailing DCL, we only sail Concierge class and RCCL including the "Genie" doesn't even come close to the quality of DCL service.

I’m sorry for your poor experience with Star, that is not acceptable and I can’t blame you for turning your back on the cruise line. Yours might be the first bad review I’ve seen (but completely valid) and I would like to mention that this was certainly not the norm! I hope that you complained,

 

[Retiredcruiser]

I’m sorry for your poor experience with Star, that is not acceptable and I can’t blame you for turning your back on the cruise line. Yours might be the first bad review I’ve seen (but completely valid) and I would like to mention that this was certainly not the norm! I hope that you complained,

For those considering RCCL then I would direct you over to the BBB customer reviews. I agree, anyone can have a bad experience and it can be viewed as the exception. For us, the RCCL negative experience goes beyond onboard and into their customer service channel post cruise. When you experience something as we did, they award you with future cruise credits so you can "give them another chance". They were beyond dishonest in stating those could be transferred over to Celebrity. While they could if they wanted to, they say RCCL and Celebrity are different "brands" so they will not make the FCC transfer between them. The bottomline is to find what makes you happy and while we are busy trying other cruise lines, DCL remains our favorite !

 

[pangyal]

For those considering RCCL then I would direct you over to the BBB customer reviews. I agree, anyone can have a bad experience and it can be viewed as the exception. For us, the RCCL negative experience goes beyond onboard and into their customer service channel post cruise. When you experience something as we did, they award you with future cruise credits so you can "give them another chance". They were beyond dishonest in stating those could be transferred over to Celebrity. While they could if they wanted to, they say RCCL and Celebrity are different "brands" so they will not make the FCC transfer between them. The bottomline is to find what makes you happy and while we are busy trying other cruise lines, DCL remains our favorite !

My interest has been piqued with regards to what your onboard experience was, if you don't mind sharing ?

 

[CampbellzSoup]

9 carnival
11 royal Caribbean
8 Norwegian
9 DCL

I get around

 

[John VN]

For those considering RCCL then I would direct you over to the BBB customer reviews. I agree, anyone can have a bad experience and it can be viewed as the exception. For us, the RCCL negative experience goes beyond onboard and into their customer service channel post cruise. When you experience something as we did, they award you with future cruise credits so you can "give them another chance". They were beyond dishonest in stating those could be transferred over to Celebrity. While they could if they wanted to, they say RCCL and Celebrity are different "brands" so they will not make the FCC transfer between them. The bottomline is to find what makes you happy and while we are busy trying other cruise lines, DCL remains our favorite !

r.e. bold -- If you ever cruise Yacht Club, please give a review.

Enjoy your times on the Seas

 

[zebsterama]

Anyone else who has gone on DCL having a hard time considering another cruise line such as Royal Caribbean? When we think about another cruise we end up back at DCL. Anyone else in the same boat?

We've looked at other Cruise Lines .... essentially it's myself and my wife .... my children are grown up (although they still come with us), but even we (as a mid-50 couple) can't seem to break the trend.

We spend 95% of our time in the adult areas on DCL ... seriously looked at Virgin ... but can't seem to buckle the trend.

Who knows --- things could change.

FYI we just did the Wonder Bahamas double dip with stops at CC and LP a few weeks ago.

The beach at LP is nothing but spectacular. I thought CC beach was spectacular (which it is) .... well LP is even more spectacular.

 

[Retiredcruiser]

My interest has been piqued with regards to what your onboard experience was, if you don't mind sharing ?

My interest has been piqued with regards to what your onboard experience was, if you don't mind sharing ?

I'll keep it short around four key areas to paint and share the picture of our experience:

CABIN:
I’ll start with the best part. The 2-story Star Loft spacious suite was amazing particularly when you consider cruising through Alaska, sitting on the balcony and taking in the scenery. However, mid-way through the cruise, the downstairs bathroom overflowed and yes this was disgusting given the bathroom is right next to the cabin entry door. Our assigned “genie” was non-responsive to our request to have someone come take a look at the problem (see service for more on genie issues) so we went and found someone to help. Three hours later we were notified the fecal matter was cleaned and the toilet issue was “fixed”.

FOOD:
One of the main issues was food quality. It didn’t matter what venue or which specialty restaurant we dined in. This included in room snacks as well where the best food we had were the fresh berries. We were able to request them but yet, RCCL decided to keep sending inedible nachos. The steak in Chops for example was overcooked and quickly served to us as if we were in a fast food restaurant.

ENTERTAINMENT:
The onboard trivia hosts were at best rude. For example, a planned trivia game started 15 minutes ahead of schedule without notification. Everyone came in and asked the same question to the hosts, can you please repeat the first X questions, etc. We found the entertainment shows lacking just that, entertainment, and would have much preferred seeing another rendition of any DCL show no matter how many times we have already seen it!

SERVICE:
The focus is on the genie given we didn’t get what we paid for. Ahead of our cruise, we did the research and were excited to experience the best RCCL had to offer. We watched the marketing videos and filled out the pre-cruise survey thinking wow this is going to be great. None of the information we provided was either mentioned or used to personalize our experience. We were even naïve enough to present our genie with a gift as we on boarded. Word to the wise, please don’t fall for the marketing propaganda. I realize all genies are not created equally and have read about others having good experiences with them. Our experience was the exact opposite of what they market it as. There were three genies onboard our cruise and while ours was noted as being the worst of the lot, none of the genies took time to get to know the other star class guests, be friendly, or work together as a team.

Our genie was disorganized and anything but a reliable resource. We were provided with a daily agenda including incorrect dates and times for activities as well as not providing us with shore excursion tickets on time. The lack of response to the toilet issue in the stateroom was unacceptable. He responded 1 hour after the call to help was made. Lastly, when all the issues piled up, the genie presented us with FCCs valued over $1K as compensation for our atrocious experiences which included him. Since we had a Celebrity cruise already booked I asked if they could be applied given the affiliation with their rewards program. The response was yes they could because as I stated, why would I want to go through this experience with RCCL again? This was a lie and that is where I draw the line. We have just entered our retirement phase and are ready to go with the flow on things but I simply can’t accept being lied to. My wife and I watched the Wonder sail away as the genie interrupted our dinner that last night and all I could say is we should have sailed with DCL.

Thanks for reading and happy sailing! We are looking forward to two upcoming DCL cruises (September for HOTHS and December for Very Merrytime) before venturing out and trying Virgin in January.