What is still not back to "normal?" (Updated April 2023)

[cvjw]

I saw another recent thread seeming to indicate that the MDRs no longer have physical menus - you have to use the app. Is this still the case?

They haven’t had paper menus on the tables since covid - at least on the 4 cruises we have been on. You can request one, I have been told. They did bring paper dessert menus every night on the 10/29 cruise.

 

[cvjw]

We just got back. We were on two cruises,b2b. Oct 29th eight nights and Nov 6 six night. The Oct cruise had about 2300-2400 onboard, but the Nov 6 cruise had 3500 onboard which included 1000 kids. The serving teams were struggling at times. The pools and cabanas was packed. The theater was so full. They added a matinee of both Aladdin and Believe. Btw, pirate night buffet is gone. It took an hour to disembark the ship on Saturday and at times they would stop the line because the luggage level was so backed up. The line snaked around the luggage. Btw, I’m home and ended up with a “chest cold”. Tested negative so far. This is my third time in a row getting sick. April (covid), September (flu) and now this b2b (Chest cold,bronchitis symptoms). my Head server told us that they can’t hire enough CMs. She said she was getting ready to lose a bunch of them as their contracts were ending and most weren’t coming back.

Wow. 3500 guests. That seems crazy crowded. We were also on the 10/29 cruise. It felt crowded a few times to us - I can’t even imagine adding another 1000 to the ship. Our servers did say the next cruise was very full.

 

[imbelle]

I saw another recent thread seeming to indicate that the MDRs no longer have physical menus - you have to use the app. Is this still the case?

We were given physical menus without having to ask on the 11-4 Wish cruise.

 

[Geomom]

They haven’t had paper menus on the tables since covid - at least on the 4 cruises we have been on. You can request one, I have been told. They did bring paper dessert menus every night on the 10/29 cruise.

So weird. We were given the real menus on our June Fantasy cruise without asking.

 

[Evita_W]

With the removal of all COVID testing for sailings from the U.S., it feels like Disney wants to get back to "normal" cruising as much as possible. But some things that changed with COVID-era cruising still haven't changed back. What are all the things that are still different... and do we expect this to be the new normal?

***Updates***
I'm going to try to keep a list of noted changes here for anyone who doesn't want to read through the whole thread. Perhaps some of these are not directly related to COVID, but they changed about the time of the shutdown/restart.

• Staffing still appears to be below pre-COVID levels (guest capacity doesn't seem to be capped, though)
• Supply chain issues still occasionally blamed for various shortages
• Stricter enforcement of Port Arrival Times
• No preferred PAT for Platinum Castaway Club
• Key cards no longer issued at terminal check-in. They are left outside the room.
• Muster drill procedure change (sounds like it's going back to normal soon)
• No more paper Navigators (perhaps these are coming back in some form by request)
• No character breakfast
• No Frozen meet and greet
• No pin trading events
• Youth Activities counselors no longer pickup kids from the MDR (Dine and Play)
• Ice cream station no longer self-serve (may be self-serve at times)
• Cabanas not open for dinner
• Palo Brunch menu only (no more buffet)
• Palo Dinner offers Prezzo Fisso menu for fixed cost plus a la carte menu with up charges
• Pirate party buffet gone (again)
• Future cruise bookings only offer placeholders (cannot book a specific cruise)
• Skyline Passport offer discontinued

Other recent changes I'm aware of:

• New special requests section on reservations page for things like dining table requests
• New daily internet packages (instead of metering by usage)

Character Breakfast hadn't been offered in years (to my knowledge) before COVID.

From what we were told, it sounds like the Palo Brunch Buffet is unable to return, as they can't find a way to keep the ambiance of Palo and provide the necessary sneeze guards and such, so this is likely the new normal. I would imagine the dinner offerings are the new normal too, anyway to make a few extra dollars these days.

Future cruise offerings are much easier with placeholder only, so again, this makes sense.

Paper navigators were disappearing before COVID, so again, I think that is just the new normal.

Would be nice if there was say an Encanto meet and greet instead of bringing back the dated Frozen one.

 

[n2mm]

we got real menus on both our Fantasy cruises.

 

[n2mm]

Wow. 3500 guests. That seems crazy crowded. We were also on the 10/29 cruise. It felt crowded a few times to us - I can’t even imagine adding another 1000 to the ship. Our servers did say the next cruise was very full.

It was a shock for us. I was glad I did the shows on the first cruise. We spent a lot of time in the movies. Plus we spent lunch at Royal most days because cabanas was always packed. I missed you guys from cruise #1.

 

[michelleandbrett]

Character Breakfast hadn't been offered in years (to my knowledge) before COVID.

I booked a character breakfast for my Alaskan 2020 cruise before it was canceled

 

[cvjw]

It was a shock for us. I was glad I did the shows on the first cruise. We spent a lot of time in the movies. Plus we spent lunch at Royal most days because cabanas was always packed. I missed you guys from cruise #1.

I agree that the passengers on the 8 night cruise were a good group. Lots of older, childless couples. Didn’t see any drama - we witnessed a fight at satellite falls on the dream last year!

 

[AquaDame]

We just got back. We were on two cruises,b2b. Oct 29th eight nights and Nov 6 six night. The Oct cruise had about 2300-2400 onboard, but the Nov 6 cruise had 3500 onboard which included 1000 kids. The serving teams were struggling at times. The pools and cabanas was packed. The theater was so full. They added a matinee of both Aladdin and Believe. Btw, pirate night buffet is gone. It to! ok an hour to disembark the ship on Saturday and at times they would stop the line because the luggage level was so backed up. The line snaked around the luggage. Btw, I’m home and ended up with a “chest cold”. Tested negative so far. This is my third time in a row getting sick. April (covid), September (flu) and now this b2b (Chest cold,bronchitis symptoms). my Head server told us that they can’t hire enough CMs. She said she was getting ready to lose a bunch of them as their contracts were ending and most weren’t coming back.

Many of my friends, coworkers, and all their kids have RSV at present. On the positive side, if that is it you'll have hit the trifecta and should have a drama free winter..!! I hope you feel better soon!

We really missed the pirate night buffet but I do have to admit we were only in it for the crepes... thankfully ice cream is on tap until late so we made do.

 

[RedHead0186]

There's a video somewhere on the interwebs of a girl on a DCL ship completely clueless about the alarm bells. I seem to recall it was not a true emergency or drill, but the alarms got set off somehow-- But until you know it's not really an emergency, it should be treated as such.

Yes, I remember seeing it posted here a while back. IIRC the poster was in a class of some sort so she was filming, then the alarm bells went off and she just stood there filming. No one was panicking, but a lot of people just kind of like, looked around and slowly started walking. No one seemed to take it seriously (though a few cast members in the video did appear to be hustling). It was pretty sad, actually. While it did turn out to be a false alarm they didn't know it at the time.

 

[n2mm]

Many of my friends, coworkers, and all their kids have RSV at present. On the positive side, if that is it you'll have hit the trifecta and should have a drama free winter..!! I hope you feel better soon!

We really missed the pirate night buffet but I do have to admit we were only in it for the crepes... thankfully ice cream is on tap until late so we made do.

Sadly there’s always that norovirus lurking. Thanks for a positive thought!

 

[katmigordon]

Hey! Some of us would much rather the Frozen than Encanto - can't we just have both? That way nobody has to lose!

Character Breakfast hadn't been offered in years (to my knowledge) before COVID.

From what we were told, it sounds like the Palo Brunch Buffet is unable to return, as they can't find a way to keep the ambiance of Palo and provide the necessary sneeze guards and such, so this is likely the new normal. I would imagine the dinner offerings are the new normal too, anyway to make a few extra dollars these days.

Future cruise offerings are much easier with placeholder only, so again, this makes sense.

Paper navigators were disappearing before COVID, so again, I think that is just the new normal.

Would be nice if there was say an Encanto meet and greet instead of bringing back the dated Frozen one.

 

[Bupperdoodle]

Hi, first time Disney cruiser here for a Very Merrytime Baja coming up, I heard that Preludes snack bar outside of the theater has not reopened post-covid. Anyone able to confirm or deny? Also, any chance that staff are picking up kiddos from the second dinner seating around 9pm yet to take them to the kids club (crosses fingers anxiously)? Thanks!

 

[Lillebelle]

I don't know about the dinner pickup (I'd actually love to know the answer to that myself) but on the Fantasy in May Preludes was definitely open because every time I passed it I was tempted by the ridiculous Cinderella popcorn bucket they had...

 

[dcassetta]

Hi, first time Disney cruiser here for a Very Merrytime Baja coming up, I heard that Preludes snack bar outside of the theater has not reopened post-covid. Anyone able to confirm or deny? Also, any chance that staff are picking up kiddos from the second dinner seating around 9pm yet to take them to the kids club (crosses fingers anxiously)? Thanks!

Preludes is open. Club pick-up has not restarted.

 

[Kwami]

I saw another recent thread seeming to indicate that the MDRs no longer have physical menus - you have to use the app. Is this still the case?

Well, it's complicated. Before the shutdown, everyone got "permanent" menus. After the restart, we were asked to use our phones to load the menus, but were able to request paper menus for our September, 2021 and February, 2022 cruises. At some point in the spring (June?), Disney brought back the "permanent" menus. Kind of. When I sailed last month, we had to request those menus because they weren't provided to us initially. The server made it seem like a bit of a chore to go and get them for us, though of course he did it without complaint. We had to ask for drink and dessert menus, too.

So, menus are back, but you have to ask for them sometimes.

 

[darnheather]

Character Breakfast hadn't been offered in years (to my knowledge) before COVID.

From what we were told, it sounds like the Palo Brunch Buffet is unable to return, as they can't find a way to keep the ambiance of Palo and provide the necessary sneeze guards and such, so this is likely the new normal. I would imagine the dinner offerings are the new normal too, anyway to make a few extra dollars these days.

Future cruise offerings are much easier with placeholder only, so again, this makes sense.

Paper navigators were disappearing before COVID, so again, I think that is just the new normal.

Would be nice if there was say an Encanto meet and greet instead of bringing back the dated Frozen one.

Had character breakfast in 2019.

 

[holula]

Any chance the snack stations are back yet? Or the Frozen meet and greet?

I was on the Magic in September and you could meet Anna and Elsa. I’d guess since they were already on board for the Northern Europe frozen at sea stuff.

 

[Bonnie1222]

Just got off the Fantasy VM... Castaway Cay was not decorated whic was really dissapointing and no gingerbread decorating.