What's something you wish you'd done differently on your last cruise?

[CrowMomma]

Cabanas was almost eerily quiet on embarkation day

Interesting. Maybe I'll have to play a reverse card this go around.

 

[lwilliam]

After 23 cruises we went to main dining room (in November on Magic) for breakfast. We didn’t enjoy it at all. Our friend ordered a waffle and it looked like an Eggo waffle, I’m not kidding, we had a good laugh. I ordered the Mickey waffle, it was So chewy I couldn’t eat it. I’m gonna stick w Cabanas, my opinion (and my friends) only.

 

[Cheburashka]

Any specific reasons why?

In my experience the food is better at the MDR. The only drawback is that the hours are limited so you do have to get up in time to make the MDR breakfast, but that is something I plan to do during my upcoming cruise.

 

[auntlynne]

Take a blanket (and wear a hoodie) to the Buena Vista Theater for late night movies. I loved seeing a movie at 11:15 pm, but I was so cold the first night. I took the blanket off the sofa bed for the remaining nights.

 

[Lilsia]

I'm glad you had a good experience - I'm honestly too exhausted to rehash it all. We sailed Christmas also and it was a totally different experience. Biggest issues for us were lack of options for teens, lack of mask compliance and lack of information being shared by DCL as to what they were doing to remedy both of those issues. It also was not festive, which I expected on a cruise that includes New Year's Eve. Even the staff were shocked they took down all the decorations. One disorganized New Year's Eve night does not make up for everything else that was missing.


We booked it almost 2 years ago (which means no discounts for us and it was a VERY expensive cruise). I do not feel it was anywhere close to worth what we paid. Maybe if we had gotten a steep discount on it, we wouldn't be as disgusted by it all.

To be fair, cost is related to supply and demand, and not if they have holiday decorations up.

 

[Lilsia]

On my next cruise I'm going to have breakfast in the available MDR instead of Cabanas.

I like Cabanas for the most part, but I do check out the menus for breakfast and lunch in the MDR to see if they are offering anything good. I think that most people forget about them or would just rather grab food and go, but sometimes they offer something different.

 

[FroZone the Pirate]

My take on our Fantasy sailing from Dec. 12th thru the 19th is probably skewed by the experience being our first Disney cruise.
We enjoyed our sit-down breakfasts, I believe we got to do that four times, these will be a priority on our next cruise.
We did the wine package (3 bottles) next cruise we will upgrade to the next level of wine.
Cruising in December will probably be our last, the Christmas winds in BVI and VI and the rain showers took a little shine off our water fun.
Being SC natives we love the beach and warm/hot weather - we need to take that into account for our next cruise.
The Cove Cafe… I fell in love. Next cruise no excuses I'll be at the Cove every morning at 6:30 am for a Latte and a date with my journal.
The Rainforest room - yes, please.

Due to not cruising before… almost every shipboard activity (tastings) was booked. We will jump on these offerings next cruise.
Same with some excursions. Our must-do was Jost Van Dyke in BVI. The Disney offering was full so we did an independent excursion. It went well but based on our Disney booked St. John's excursion experience. We will jump on the Disney excursion offerings ASAP.

We will probably book Palo for brunch next cruise if we can get it.

 

[otten]

To be honest, getting on a cruise ship when there was a potential pandemic looming. We made the decision to sail based on assumptions that turned out to be false and if I were making the decision again I wouldn’t have gone.

 

[Freeman867]

To be honest, getting on a cruise ship when there was a potential pandemic looming. We made the decision to sail based on assumptions that turned out to be false and if I were making the decision again I wouldn’t have gone.

Yeah, you're going to have to expand on this. What assumptions did you make that turned out to be false? Mask usage? Passenger safety?

 

[otten]

Yeah, you're going to have to expand on this. What assumptions did you make that turned out to be false? Mask usage? Passenger safety?

We were on the Panama Canal 2020 cruise. At the time we left Canada on Mar 3 2020 Covid was mostly something happening in other places and it was et, as far as we knew, any of the places we were going to. It wasn’t a pandemic at the time. Social distancing wasn’t on the vocabulary and mask usage was rare.

it was a 14 night cruise and the world changed dramatically during that time. I have no criticisms for how DCL handled the unprecedented situation and I won’t say it was a bad trip even but had I known them what I know now I would not have gone.

 

[mousefan73]

Pack less shoes. I always bring too many. And that I had read more here to learn that YES laundry is open again. Would have saved me packing so much clothes.

 

[MsSimone]

On my next cruise I'm going to have breakfast in the available MDR instead of Cabanas.

We did about half-and-half on breakfasts. For one thing, if you like eggs, you'll have a much better experience at the MDR. My eggs benedicts were inconsistently cooked (great one day, way overdone another day) but a lot better than the scrambled mess at Cabanas. Breakfast in the MDRs takes a while, but that's not really an issue generally on at-sea days.

 

[MsSimone]

Next time I will bring alcohol on board, especially with many at-sea days! This time we got in late on a Saturday night and the upcharge instacart wanted for delivering alcohol was nuts! But then when I walked to a store the next morning, I couldn't buy on a Sunday morning (rats!). Considering how expensive and limited the beer selection is on board, I'll make more of an effort and/or pay the delivery upcharges next time!

 

[MomOTwins]

We did about half-and-half on breakfasts. For one thing, if you like eggs, you'll have a much better experience at the MDR. My eggs benedicts were inconsistently cooked (great one day, way overdone another day) but a lot better than the scrambled mess at Cabanas. Breakfast in the MDRs takes a while, but that's not really an issue generally on at-sea days.

We’ve always said we were going to do MDR breakfast on the ship sometime, but we always end up being early risers on cruises—probably a combination of kids with early bedtimes, morning excursions planned, or just getting out of bed because we want to see the sunrise from the verandah—and the MDR breakfast opens so much later than Cabanas. 8am or 8:30 for the MDR versus 7am for Cabanas.

For my “Wish I had done” I’m going to do Serenity Bay next cruise. We never seem to have time for it as we tend to prioritize the kids (they always want to do the water slides, and then swim and make sand castles, then snorkeling, then the ropes course… then the “In the Shade” games… and so on until before we know it we are back on the ship. This time, I have booked a CC double dip to make SURE that DH and I get a chance to see Serenity Bay at last!

 

[Geil]

Roam the ship late at night when empty. I mean real late like 2am. I only managed to do it the first or second cruise but have not managed to do it since. Always too tired. Everything was lit but totally empty except for cleaning crew here and there. I was able to take the most amazing shots.

 

[randumb0]

I would love to be able to just sit in a chair on an upper deck and relax. After 5 cruises with little ones I've yet to find the time

 

[tvguy]

Roam the ship late at night when empty. I mean real late like 2am. I only managed to do it the first or second cruise but have not managed to do it since. Always too tired. Everything was lit but totally empty except for cleaning crew here and there. I was able to take the most amazing shots.

We are West Coasters and stayed on West Coast time on an Eastern cruise. Late seating dinner, only booked afternoon excursions. Our kids loved standing on the Sports Deck on the Magic after Midnight (ship time) in front of the windshield in the warm breeze, the sounds of the ocean, and the lights of islands we were passing. Only thing they missed on Disney was going to the Midnight buffet at 1 am like they did on our other cruises since Disney doesn't do nightly Midnight buffets.

 

[Calantha]

We’ve always said we were going to do MDR breakfast on the ship sometime, but we always end up being early risers on cruises

So to combat this when we were on the Dream in January, I ordered cereal for my son and tea for me from room service between 6 and 630. That kept us until we were ready to go to the MDR. One morning, we went to Cabanas and I was really disappointed. I didn’t find the experience to be as good as it was when we were on the Fantasy in 2019.

I hope things are better on the Wonder in a few weeks.

I really want to do midship detective agency next time we are on the Dream/Fantasy, we didn’t do it at all in 2019 and DS still wasn’t interested in January. I might just go do it myself.

 

[mullysisters]

I’m really surprised that people show no love for Cabanas. We are going on our first cruise in July. As a vegetarian I prefer buffets for the choices. We looked at a YouTube video and the selection looks good……is it the preparation? Is the food cold? Can anyone elaborate? Thanks.

 

[magickate]

I am the only one in our family of 4 that gets up before 10am, I usually enjoy a room service breakfast on the balcony with a good book but next time I think I may brave MDR breakfast on my own.

Our last sailing was one of the UK staycations and the amount of time on the ship was amazing, there was no feeling rushed and plenty of time to enjoy everything. Whatever we do on our next cruise I want to feel like that again.