We just sailed on the Fantasy Dec 2-9; we have previously sailed Dream x 3 and Fantasy.
We also noticed the decline in service. Our water and soda was constantly empty and we spent long stretches not even seeing the serving team. They always seemed rushed.
There was almost none of the interaction we were used to (magic tricks, and just conversation) until the last couple nights - we actually commented on the lack of it to our server and that night and the next he made a point of doing some magic tricks and conversation with us. Our assistant server didn't really interact with us until the last night.
They also made some changes to how they handle food allergies. In particular, I have multiple food allergies, so was able to pre-order breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But my sister, who only has a seafood allergy, was not allowed to pre-order. I thought that was strange considering the amount of seafood on board and the very real risk of cross-contamination. On one of our previous cruises she reacted to presumably-cross-contaminated food at Cabanas, which resulted in a trip to the medical centre. So we were not really comfortable with not pre-ordering. And, for example, at serenity Bay BBQ they focused on my allergies, which include seafood, so I learned the only meat that was safe was the steak and hamburger, but she was left to her own until I reminded them that she had a seafood allergy and also needed safe meat -- she had been going to get a hot dog, which is cooked on the same grill as the seafood. If I hadn't caught the problem, or if I had not had multiple allergies, we would not have known.
Also, although we pre-ordered my breakfast and lunch as well as dinner, about half the time the chosen restaurant could not find the breakfast and/or lunch pre-order. One day, at breakfast they could find the lunch preorder but not the breakfast; by lunchtime at the same restaurant they had lost the lunch pre-order !! Very frustrating.
We also had a food quality issue with the allergy-friendly Mickey Waffles. It became an ongoing battle, and our head server tried his best to resolve it, but not really successfully. Basically, they are hard like bricks. I don' know what they are doing wrong, but something is not working right. They tried adjusting the cooking time (shorter), and while that helps, within 5-10 minutes of sitting they turn into bricks. We had spent a few days at Polynesian before the cruise [and at Copper Creek after] and had Mickey Waffles there, that were soft and wonderful. So I know it can be done. But the chefs on the ship could not figure out how. According to my sister, the normal Mickey Waffles were also crispy, just not as hard as the allergy ones. By the end I got french toast because at least that they could get right ... The
DCL chefs need to have a conversation with the WDW resort chefs and figure out how to do Mickey waffles properly.
SW