Wonder 9/16-9/19

[wide awake]

To begin...we have taken three cruises on the Magic. Eastern, Western, and the first EB Panama Canal in 2005...loved them ! Had my first DCL cruise been our 3-day Wonder cruise I'd never have done another DCL. We've booked for the 7/20 Med, so haven't totally given up, but we would never do less than a 7 day again.
1. Servers waited until everyone in the section showed up to start food service
2. Different crowd than on the longer cruises
3. Our room steward was very bad. That was luck of the draw. My mom and son were five doors down and they had a wonderful guy that I gave extra on tips.
4. Hardly worth unpacking
5. More kids allowed in adult section of ship. Staff acted like oh well, only 2.5 days, what is the big deal

Positives
1. Tried a cat 10 for the first time, loved it. Great way to save money.
2. Serenity Bay at CC
3. Jogging deck just as much fun as on the Magic
4. Panini, salad, and fruit bar on deck 9

To sum up. We got a good deal booking onboard for the Med cruise, but will probably not cruise DCL after that. I am not happy w/ their loyalty program...number of cruises trumping nights on board is stupid, should be either/or. Staff overall seems lower quality. Dining was a yawn...of course this is after 4 years of free dining w/ the best WDW restaurants to compare to. The dining room doesn't cut it when I've just eaten at Tutto or Cat Cora's three days before.

 

[yashasvi]

I should apologize for my questions, but I have got to ask them!

"Had my first DCL cruise been our 3-day Wonder cruise I'd never have done another DCL."
This (09/16-09/19) was our first cruise and I would not quite agree with your sentiments. But then, maybe I had my expectations set low??

"1. Servers waited until everyone in the section showed up to start food service"
We got there later than 8:15 each night (second seating), so cannot really say how it went for others.

"2. Different crowd than on the longer cruises"
Would you mind explaining?

"3. Our room steward was very bad."
Would you please give examples of what was bad? I am just trying to understand how folks rate service ...

"4. Hardly worth unpacking"
Well, we didn't pack much either ;-)

"5. More kids allowed in adult section of ship. Staff acted like oh well, only 2.5 days, what is the big deal"
Where did you face this issue? The only time I saw this happen was when a family with two kids showed up at the adults pool and refused to leave when asked by other guests. Someone had to call in the staff ... and I did not hang around to see the final outcome (I was taking a walk on Deck 10 at the time).

"Dining was a yawn...of course this is after 4 years of free dining w/ the best WDW restaurants to compare to. The dining room doesn't cut it when I've just eaten at Tutto or Cat Cora's three days before."
How do you get free dining at WDW, that too for 4 years? Are/were you a cast member or something?

- Y's Dad

 

[wide awake]

Hi Yashasvi,
For the 1st question...I work very hard in my job providing excellent service to homeschooling families. The first Magic cruise we took in 2003...I felt like for one week a year I was getting what I gave the other 51 weeks of the year. My BA is in Econ, and I have a tendency to overanalyze...but one thing I adored about DCL is that someone else had figured out all the rough spots...I couldn't have done a better job myself and I LOVED it ! Usually I am always seeing how service could have been better, an exursion better arranged, etc... I never had that feeling on DCL.
To answer your questions...
1. We got there at 8:15, which is when 2nd dining started. Unfortunately some of the families our servers were responsible for didn't amble in till 15-20 minutes later. On the Magic I never noticed that service was delayed for latecomers. On the Wonder it was very obvious. I was traveling w/ my 75 year old mother and 20 yr old autistic son. I don't feel like sitting there drinking water while others are late to dinner.
2. Crowd...seemed like lots of people that had never cruised, or from the example from an adjacent table ever eaten w/ silverware. That sounds snotty but I was surprised at the loud voices, the apparal, and table manners. I've never noticed that before. Trust me, I'm not a snappy dresser because I'm cheap and lazy. But even I don't wear jean shorts and a stretch headband to dinner at a formal dining room. Or hold my knife and fork w/ my fists.
3. Room trunk covered in dust. When I set a book on top the outline was obvious. Also, no turndown on the first night...brochures and such thrown on the bed...bathroom floor dirty...shampoo etc not replaced...my husband didn't even know who our steward WAS ! No intro, no friendliness...no chance to chat and get to know them.
4. I always unpack fully at the parks or on the cruise, and we'd just finished a week at the parks so I had lots of luggage. I wouldn't have fully unpacked given it was just 3 days, but the whole atmosphere was lacking any need to unpack, spiff up, etc...
5. On the Magic I have always noticed that when kids are in the adult section they are shooed off immediately by staff. My DH and I sat in the adult pool area the last day, a couple and their 2 yr old sat 2 chairs down from us for 45 minutes. The crew never said a word, even though many passed by. The family finally left, because they wanted to, not because anyone said anything.

Free dining is a frequent promo at WDW...it is actually in force the entire next year except for holiday black out days. The top restaurants have ruined me for the cruise dinners.

So, didn't mean to be negative, but was very surprised at how unimpressed I was by the 3 day. I've always adored every second of our other DCL cruises. We're giving them another chance. If our Med Magic is what we remember...great. If not, no DCL for us. If you liked this cruise you will really see how great DCL is if you do a longer one.

 

[Jey12]

I'm sorry you had such an awful experience. We were on the 4 day right after your cruise and had an awesome time! It was our first cruise so I had nothing to judge it against, except other traveling experiences and I would go again in a heartbeat! We had the 815 dining time and every night we were greeted and served as we arrived not when the entire section showed up. Not sure why they would do that anyway? I would think it would be easier to stagger out drinks and meals? Our table was just us and the friends we were traveling with so I never really bothered to take a good look at other guests. I too am not a snazzy dresser but do know enough to put on nice pants and a dress shirt for dinner and even did the rare thing for me and put a dress on for the dress up night. The only things I was dissapointed in was I didn't know they were doing formal type of pics with Mickey before dinner and no pictures were taken during our dinner that night. I mean I put on a dress! There needed to be some proof! We never had a chance to use the adult area of the ship since we were with DD4 and never had the time. I never noticed any kids in that area though, and even when we'd walk by on our way to another area I wondered if we should have taken a different route because there were no kids to be seen. Our room was awesome and our cleaning team introduced themselves the first afternoon and we never had any issues at all. I hope you let DCL know about the problem as it seems that is not standard and they would want to know about dust and items not being replaced.

I am sorry you had such a poor time and hope your next trip is as wonderful as you expect. I just wanted to say we boarded right after your cruise, so we would have had the same staff and absolutly had no issues. The only problem I see with a 3 day is it just would not be enough time! I considered hiding in our steamer trunk on the last day to see if anyone would find me.

 

[smeecanada]

To sum up. We got a good deal booking onboard for the Med cruise, but will probably not cruise DCL after that. I am not happy w/ their loyalty program...number of cruises trumping nights on board is stupid, should be either/or.

Just wondering what type of deal they are offering for the Med cruises. We are thinking about booking the July 9th one while on board in three weeks.

I agree with you about the loyalty program. We've done 3 cruises, soon to be 4 (total of 33 nights), but still the low level of the loyalty program. Verses someone who lives closer and can do 3 night cruises x 5 and be at the top level with 15 nights is just not equal. For us, anything less than a 7 night doesn't make sense with flight costs.

 

[wide awake]

20% off the current price plus $200/person credit...yes, per person, not cabin. So a really good deal. Only half the normal deposit too.

 

[smeecanada]

20% off the current price plus $200/person credit...yes, per person, not cabin. So a really good deal. Only half the normal deposit too.

Wow. That is a good deal. Which Med cruise did you book? I looked a bit at airfare yesterday. We're looking at $1200.00 each just to Paris - the charter company that I looked at doesn't fly into Barcelona right now. We want to do a bit more than just the cruise - too far to fly for just that time frame.

Was there a restriction as to which CAT's the offer applied to?

 

[wide awake]

Airfare is horrid right now. We will wait a bit, might fly into Germany, DH is retired military, stay a few days at the military hotel in Germany and get over jet lag, then possibly a train to Barcelona. I need to buy guidebooks and do some planning. We are on the 7/20 cruise. It was a great deal. We were thinking of doing the spring break Mexico cruise...turned out only $200/cabin less, and no great cabin credit per person. Plus it was Mexico, which other than being an easy drive to the port...we're in northern CA...ick ! The Wonder needs to do Hawaii. We won't use DCL for Alaska, will go w/ HAL for that, but the circle Hawaii cruise on DCL might be fun.

 

[smeecanada]

The only reason we're booked for Alaska as it's in our backyard so to speak. No airfare required, just a 1.5 hour ferry ride.

Was there any restrictions on the CAT level you had to book for the discount?
I want to run some numbers - so I'm not booking blind.

 

[wide awake]

No cat restrictions, we booked connecting 10s
$3200 per cabin, 2 adults in each and $800 ship credit which we'll need since the excursions are so pricey

 

[smeecanada]

No cat restrictions, we booked connecting 10s
$3200 per cabin, 2 adults in each and $800 ship credit which we'll need since the excursions are so pricey

Great. I'm thinking about a sideways CAT10. Go to the trip reports and start reading. There are lots of tips for doing things on your own. The only DCL one that I'm looking at is the Taste of Sorrento and Pompeii excursion. The rest we'll probably wing on our own. There are a few other threads - that I'll try and find and point you to as well. I started a word.doc and just started inputting tips from everyone.

 

[tink70]

I read your review and understand alot of your points. We are also doing a "4 day " for the first time. And I know it is too short, but my son is a freshman this year, and we really did not want to pull him out of school for a week.
That being said, I usually "move in" when we arrive for vacation, so the 4 day is going to definitly be short.

a note about airfare- we got a great deal on dec 2nd to go to Fla, it was a promotion for jet blue opening out of hartford, ct. we paid $200 to get there.
This is what made us decide to take a trip. THen we got REAMED by southwest for our return flight. $800 for the 4 of us. (on a sunday) Then they even went up $20 a person while I was trying to book my tickets. I am very very disenchanted with southwest. I will certainly not wait next time to see what they offer because obviously they are not the cheapest any longer.

So our mini trip ended up costing quite a bit for 4 days. I only hope it does not go by as fast as I think it will.

 

[wide awake]

I think the sea day will help your cruise seem a lot longer. We're not used to NO sea days. Also, despite what many say we really liked Nassau. We hired a taxi to take us to the beach, the driver was wonderful, showed us the governor's mansion where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor lived during WWII...I'm a Duchess fan so a highlight for me....then a gorgeous beach that my son adored. He is autistic, hasn't gone swimming in years, and he was in the water for over an hour and a half. Needless to say, no ship time on either Bahama day.