Western 4/24-4/30 - unbelievable!

[suecate]

I don't know if anyone else was on this cruise but it was my 5th one in a row and did not rebook. The few guests on board that think they are the only ones on the planet ruined it for the rest of us. This is a Disney Cruise and most of us go because it is great for the kids - not this time. Let me start by telling you about the Golden Mickey's. We had a 6 pm dinner so we went to our scheduled show @ 8:30. Arrived at 8:15 no seats. That's not even the best part 2 women physically attacked another woman because they had saved 2 rows of seats and she explained to them that they couldn't do that. Ripped her glasses off her face- it does not get much better. 6 little girls about 11 were sitting in a row with an older woman, 5 minutes before the show this womans family shows up and the Disney attendant made the kids move.

The pool was another fiasco the life guards were letting kids in the Mickey pool with rafts and large beach balls, never blinking an eye as they trappled over the little ones. We left the pool.

Parents who let their kids sit there crying while they have the have corn rows but in, makes you think a minimum age should be put on this activity.

Adults were knocking kids over literally to get close to the characters having adult family members stand in lines to hold spots while they are at different characters.

With this said I have to say that when I spoke to Guest Services they were more than glad that this information was stated prior to my leaving and they did try and rectify the situations.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Wow Suecate, what an experience. I hope you all did find some fun time.

I am glad your shared your experience with us all. It kinda shows us that we all should be considerate of one another, which sadly it doesn't happen. alot of times.

I think you should write to Disney, about the Theater, and let them know about the saving the seats incident.

That must have been awful watching the two women fist fighting. Even more horrible for the surrounding children to see this.

Thanks for sharing

Patricia

 

[bratray]

wow...not what i wanted to hear when i will be sailing 5/6/05! sorry things were not so magic!! how was the rest of your trip

thanks for posting

 

[lookingforward]

I am so sorry that those things happened! I would have been so upset. I don't understand why people are so ruthless at the shows! We went to DIsney Dreams and a women a few rows in front of us videotaped the entire production. This was a problem because she had one of those extra large viewers that stood out from the camera. It was like having a television on in the theater. She rudely told a few people who complained to shut up. The light from the little screen really ruined the show for us.
During the kids show at the end of the cruise a little boy vomited in the aisle way (next to me!) The dad carried him out but did not let anyone know about the mess. When the little kids marched in to get on stage I grabbed a CM and pointed to the vomit and he shrugged his shoulders. Several kids stepped in it. I was horrified but there was nothing I could do since no CM could hear me once the kids started marching in. The father should have immediately told someone since there was a few minutes to act on the mess OR he should have brought paper towels to cover it up.

 

[westjones]

Did you make it to all the ports? Even Castaway Cay? We had friends on that sailing who went last year and missed CC, so I was really hoping they got to go.

I hope they didn't experience the same rudeness you did. I really wanted it to be good for them. Last year their (our) cruise was cut short by Hurricane Jeanne, and I so wanted them to see just how nice DCL really is under normal circumstances.

Thanks for the report.
DJ

 

[Jillie]

Have to say I was on this cruise and we thought it was wonderful! I was at that 8:30pm showing of the Golden Mickeys and saw no problems (granted it is a big theater and I could not see everything. We had a great time, our kids (16 and 13) had a great time as did the 2 other families we traveled with.
Sorry it was a disappointment for you!
We made it to all the ports and had the most wonderful day at Castaway Key...the weather was spectacular!

 

[suecate]

I spoke to the assistant cruise director and suggested that they check tickets for what seating you have at dinner since we had the 6 pm seating we could not go to the earlier show frankly I am not eating hot dogs to watch a show, He said that that is not something they would consider at this time but that we could watch on tv. I told him I did not spend $6000.00 to stay in my room to watch tv. If you are going to the golden Mickeys get there at least 1/2 hr before show time.

They added a matinee to Disney Dreams after my complaint and that seem to help having 3 shows.

I to experianced the same indifference from one CM believe me I went to Guest Services with a written complaint. They made the rest of our trip really great but it was sad that you have to complain to get the service you deserve particularly since we have sailed so many times.

Good luck to anyone on the REAS as the CM's are in a panic over what is going to happen.

But the good news is Mickey was put back in the water on the 28th so we found him at Cast Away Cay.

 

[CruisinDragons]

I wanted to comment on your trip report, specifically about children and the characters. I have never done DCL but I have been at Disney and other events where I have seen unbelievable behavior by adults wanting autographs or to get pictures with characters. I have read on this board that there seem to be a fair amount of peolple without kids who cruise DCL. I dont have a problem with this as I feel we can all be "young at heart." I do have a problem when adults forget that these are just people dressed in costumes. For people with young kids, however, these characters are the "real" deal. I am amazed at at the number of times I have seen adults trample children to get an autograph or a picture with their favorite character. I say - grow up. Let the children have the joy and the adults who really need Mickey Mouse's signature can wait at the end of the line.

Just my two cents.

P.S. I have also seen this happen with the Harlem Globetrotters!

 

[daisymae]

I too was on that cruise and had a wonderful time. I went to the same shows as you and missed the women fighting. The ship was at capacity, so we expected long lines but were surprised at how smoothly most events went. We did try to arrive at shows about 15 - 20 minutes ahead of time - perhaps that helped. We stayed on board during Key West to enjoy the pools when there were less people - my kids had their fill of the slide by the end of the day - moved on to other activities during sea days. I guess we were lucky because we encountered many pleasant, courteous, and enjoyable people on this cruise, along with an occasional, expected grump. The weather was amazing. Sorry to hear about your unfortunate encounters. It's such a big ship that you can have varying experiences.

 

[redsoxfan]

We were also on this trip and agree that the Golden Mickeys show was overcrowded. We got to the theatre about 10 minutes before show time and could only find 1 seat for the three of us. My DD and DH sat on the steps nearby. About 10 minutes into the show, a teen girl got sick and vomited on several people, including my DH. He immediately left and went back to the stateroom A CM did eventually clean up, about 20 minutes later. We also experienced a tough crowd at the pool. It was all but impossible to find a chair, and on the sole occasion we were lucky enough to find one, our belongings were thrown on the floor when we went to check on our DD. We also found it disappointing that cigars and cigarettes were permitted by the adult pool. We have been on 5 other disney cruises and found this to be the least considerate crowd. We had fabulous weather, wonderful servers, an incredible stateroom, and will rebook but we will avoid the last week of April in the future.

 

[suecate]

It is so nice to know that it was not just me that felt a different type of Guest atmosphere. I to will avoid the last week in April. My kids want to go back in 2007 just waiting for a new itinerary.

I did see the kid throw up - it did take quite awhile...

 

[westjones]

Were there a lot of people on spring break from school? I would have thought most spring breaks would have been over by now.

We are going on our spring break next time; which will be our first time traveling on spring break. I hope it isn't a 'rough' crowd then. If it is, that may be our last cruise because we can't go in the fall any more and it is too hot for us in the summer.

DJ

 

[suecate]

It was NY, PA, and NH, CA spring break, I don't know who else. I have sailed this week for the past 3 years and this is the first time I ran into a problem.

 

[minievicky]

Hi! I was in the same cruise and found it very crowded. 2 times in the mickey pool I saw a child got hurt. I don't know if some of the parents were watching their kids as I did. I wasn't too impressed with the life guards so I did my own watching. I too did not get a seat at the golden mickeys as well as the show the first night. Our family had to stand on the sides. I had early dinner and arrived at the restaurants just before they opened and was usually the last table to leave, our servers were somewhat slow. I did complain on the first night that I was not happy, my kids were 3 and 8 and not that I was rushing, but my 3 year old can't sit for a 2 hour dinner. Things did improve slightly after I said something but overall I think because it was full capacity, service at dinner was lacking. The sun beds on deck on sea days were also being reserved early by some families. I didn't really see anyone from Disney taking things off. We did say something, but most of these chairs had one shoe or something that would make it looked occupied. On one sea day, we finally found 2 empty chairs next to a grandma who saved about 10 chairs in a row. We were there for about 2 hours and nobody really sat on the chairs she was saving. A few of her family stopped by to talk to her, but did not spend time in the chairs. A friend of mine was looking for chairs so I finally gave her mine since I had been there 2 hours already. I also met some cast members that were a little short. Not sure if they were just overwhelmed. Overall I think the 4/23 sailing was lacking Disney Magic.
Vicky

 

[Colonial traveler]

I was on this cruise also - our first cruise experience and we had a blast. Having said that, I will agree the Golden Mickeys show as crowded - we made sure we got there early for the Dreams show. Was the fight on the left hand side (as facing the stage) about 1/3 to 1/2 the way up? I saw something going on there that didn't look normal and I saw what looked like an arm flailing at someone. Incredible!

Regarding the character signings and adults - yes, there were a few adults that were terribly rude. TWICE, my daughter was waiting to have her picture taken with a character and after the character signed her autograph book and handed it to the assistant, before she could pose with my daughter this lady (same lady both times) came from the side OPPOSITE the line and shoved (literally) an autograph into the character's hand for an autograph - apparently she felt she was above standing in line. She appeared to be in her 50's or 60's and didn't give a rip that my daughter was standing there for a picture. I actually have this on video tape both times! The second time the character was Wendy Darling and she didn't take the autograph book but instead looked at the assistant who intercepted the lady and kindly escorted her out of the way of the photographer. It was done very nicely and didn't create a scene.

My daughter also went to the pool and I did witness a few kids getting a little rough around the younger kids - a cast member did say something to a couple of them and I also saw a mother complaining to a nearby cast member.

All in all, we had a great time! My six year old daughter loved it and didn't want to come home. Seeing the excitement in her face as she waited interacted with the characters was well worth the extra cost for Disney.

 

[disneydaveN.Y.]

I don't know if anyone else was on this cruise but it was my 5th one in a row and did not rebook. The few guests on board that think they are the only ones on the planet ruined it for the rest of us. This is a Disney Cruise and most of us go because it is great for the kids - not this time. Let me start by telling you about the Golden Mickey's. We had a 6 pm dinner so we went to our scheduled show @ 8:30. Arrived at 8:15 no seats. That's not even the best part 2 women physically attacked another woman because they had saved 2 rows of seats and she explained to them that they couldn't do that. Ripped her glasses off her face- it does not get much better. 6 little girls about 11 were sitting in a row with an older woman, 5 minutes before the show this womans family shows up and the Disney attendant made the kids move.

The pool was another fiasco the life guards were letting kids in the Mickey pool with rafts and large beach balls, never blinking an eye as they trappled over the little ones. We left the pool.

Parents who let their kids sit there crying while they have the have corn rows but in, makes you think a minimum age should be put on this activity.

Adults were knocking kids over literally to get close to the characters having adult family members stand in lines to hold spots while they are at different characters.

With this said I have to say that when I spoke to Guest Services they were more than glad that this information was stated prior to my leaving and they did try and rectify the situations.

Was on same cruise with late seating and had no problems with any shows. yes some were crowded but had 7 in our party and mananged. CM were great but problem is with some guests dont watch kids dont clean up after themselves at pool area. People think this is CM job, not really. Around Goofy pool most of time, crowded but CM around to make sure no jumping. With anything you do with alot of people most respect you but some do not.

 

[Stimpy]

We were on that cruise too and didn't notice alot of the things you mentioned. I'm not saying it didn't happen to you, but it didn't happen to us. There were some rude and obnoxious people...but there are people like that every where.

We knew it was a soldout cruise, so we were prepared for crowds. We got to the shows we wanted to see early (I totally agree about the Bumblesquats....it was terrible!) We went to the pools on the 1st day after boarding and early in the morning on other days. I did notice several people saving deck chairs early and when we walked by the pool area in the afternoon, it was obvious no one had touched these chairs all day.

Fortunately, DS- 5 1/2 has no interest in character autographs and DD-1 is still too young so we didn't have to deal with that. The lines to get professional photos were very long. We have 1 formal night pic of DD sleeping on my shoulder b/c she fell asleep while we waited on line. Also, Shutters was constantly crowded.

BTW, DCL tells you all over that there are "No Lifeguards on Duty at Any of the Pools", they are not trained lifeguards...they are CM's.

Overall, I thought DCL did a great job in crowd control. It didn't feel like a sold-out cruise to us. The kid's club (5-7 yr olds) didn't seem crowded, except during the Goofy Giggle Gala. We were laughing watching all the kids walk down the "secret" corridor back to the Oceaneer Club...it was never ending! This was our 3rd DCL cruise, 1st sold-out one, and we did rebook another 7 day onboard.

 

[angelam]

We were also on this cruise. We did have a great time, but I would have to say that I encounter many more rude adults than two years ago when we went on our first Disney cruise.

As I got on the elevator one day, a lady in the rear screamed as loud as she could to her husband who was in the hall- she was trying to get his attention to tell him where she was going. I was standing right next to her, so she was screaming right into my ear.

As we left Disney Dreams and were near the elevators, a woman came barreling up behind us to catch an elevator. She bumped into me and my son, and bumped hard enough into my daughter (6yrs) to make her cry because she was almost knocked down. I wasn't able to catch her to say anything, because she got on the elevator and was gone.

Although we did encounter more rude people, and the pool areas were very crowded, we still had a great time, and booked another cruise on board.
-Angie