This is a great post, and thank you so much. As I know, it takes a while to bang out a long thoughtful post, and your suggestions are much appreciated. For the first time, I’m thinking maybe, sometime in the future, we’ll give the Magic or Wonder a try. A few random comments..
1. The rude cast member was a woman in her 40s wearing white. So it’s all the worse that she was probably an officer.
2. After dinner, my wife and I liked to walk around deck 4 a bunch of times, hang out in our cabin, and still get to bed relatively early so we can get up and enjoy the ship. Of course I have no idea if this is true or not, but we also think it’s healthier to eat dinner on the early side, so the late seating isn’t really an option for us. So if we try Disney again, at least we’ll be prepared for it.
3. I think food quality is major issue. We do know to order more main courses, and did on this cruise, but though we always found something to eat, it was all pretty bad. We expected so much more from Disney. As I’ve said, it made me think that DCL felt they could get away with cutting corners just because they offered the Disney overlay.
4. It seems that so many DCL regulars kind of agree with my concerns, but are willing to overlook them because they enjoy all the Disney elements. I understand, but it makes me believe that DCL is taking advantage of of the brand's biggest fans, and it still rubs me the wrong way. They can and should do better.
5. I do believe that for frequent DCL cruisers, who might be willing to forego all the Disney stuff for just one cruise, if you research the market well enough, you’ll find that there’s a whole wide world of really good options out there. Seeing that we’re in the middle of it all at WDW right now, in retrospect, my wife and I could have lived without Mickey and Friends for 5 days.
Anyway, our trip to Lighthouse Point on the Magic is not going to happen in September. But we did book another cruise and are really looking forward to it!
1. Ouch, I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with an officer. That definitely should not be the case as they are supposed to be ones with better training. The manager of guest services will be a senior ranking officer. I'm hoping who you spoke with was only a junior officer. You can also contact DCL guest services after the cruise to make sure they know.
3. I agree on the food quality. There are times in Cabanas where the food just taste "bleh." It doesn't help that i have a shellfish allergy so I can't enjoy the shrimp/crab buffet. Same with main dining. Of course there's also been excellent meals. That's also why I've just been offering them non-5 star reviews. Looks like my non-5 stars have been outweighed by the other 5 stars.
4. Which brings me to your next point on overlooking issues. I think there are some that get great service - my theory (and only a theory) is that a lot of times, I think those are parents with kids who get a little bit of extra service. I mean what parent wouldn't be happy with servers cutting up their kids steak, or remembering what the kids drinks are? They can overlook a lot for that. Then there are those who empathize with the servers and have heard from others that people's livelihoods depend on the 5 stars and that we must therefore NOT give any 5 stars. E.g., are guilt tripped to overlook issues because frankly as bad as any issue is, it's better than a day in the office. And hey, no one wants to be that jerk that gets someone fired or be accused of nitpicking. However, I've already told you my method to mitigate impact for negative scores (naming servers by name or cast members by name who had a positive impact).
I would also say that as DCL has become more expensive, I've also been more honest in my reviews (for bad and good). I feel Disney can get two things from me, but not three: 1. More money 2. Lowered Expectations. 3. High/Inflated Reviews.
5. At some point we may venture into other cruise lines, but we generally know that Disney is good for allergies (but even there they've screwed up), and have heard horror stories about other cruise lines when it comes to allergies. This would be for trips where the location rather than the ship is the main show. Otherwise, we also love Disney in general.
I'm glad you guys booked another cruise. I hope it's with Disney, but even if it isn't, I hope you guys have a great time!