Quick review of DCL (Fantasy)...and any questions?

[Charlies_Mommy]

Hi! This group helped me, thought I would pay it back. We just got off a 7-day Western Merry Time Cruise on the Fantasy. Happy to answer any questions that I can. Will try to check this board several times today. Our *honest* thoughts from two seasoned cruisers on our first ever Disney cruise. Not sure I will cover everything. Off the top of my head!

• Service was good, not great. Honestly, it was *no* different than service we have gotten on every other cruiseline. We had one amazing experience staff-wise on Palo and one really bad one in Cabana's. But overall, just good.
• Cabin was one of the best we have stayed in and very good design for families.
• Disembarkation was the BEST we have ever done. So easy. Wow.
• Food was bad. I am being honest. So bad my hubby won't talk about going back. With two exceptions-Palo and Castaway Cay.
• Character interaction was amazing. Don't waste time standing in lines. The various dance parties are great. My daughter danced with Ariel, Mickey, and Minnie. Goofy took her hand and skipped around an entire floor!
• Castaway Cay is indeed as wonderful as they say. Seriously, perfection!
• Activities were fun and family-minded. We appreciated that. Made for fun nights.
• The shows were good. I was expecting a little more. My daughter loved them. Again, liked how we could go as a family.
• Pool area is as bad as everyone says. We avoided it on sea days and stayed on the ship in Cozumel. That was worth it.
• Finally, kids club was kind of a let down. My daughter is 4.5 and goes to daycare. She is confident and at ease with other kids. Problem was, kids club is simply over-run. The noise and pure number of kids was too much for her. Getting her in was a struggle and she called to be picked up within 1 hr. Every time we came to get her, she was sitting alone and watching TV. There were structured activities, but she never engaged. Counselors were great, but it was really more open play, with stuff going on to the side IF your kids engaged. I will say one day we told them we had Palo and they kept her there the whole time (which was nice). First cruise with kids, so not sure what to expect. But we did NOT get the alone time we thought we would. I expected her to love it (we really talked it up). But, now, I see how for my kid's temperament-it just didn't work.
• All in all, lovely time. Lots of special moments. And we learned that we love cruising together. BUT, I am not sure if I can support another one at the increased fare. I already started researching kids club on Celebrity, which our line of choice. Need to do some HW and thinking on this.

Happy to answer questions if I can! Happy cruising!

 

[Annge]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would appreciate a bit more specificity around your opinions on food and service. This would help me a great deal.

Example - were you served food that was spoiled, under or over cooked, too salty, tasteless, greasy...? Were the portions too small?

Did the servers ignore your requests? Were they slow? Rude? Was this shipwide? Or just the food places? Did your cabin stewards not provide you with clean towels? Again, specifics will help me.

I am about to go on my first Disney Cruise, and your experiences will help me make better decisions, and perhaps better manage my expectations.

Thank you again.

 

[Charlies_Mommy]

Annge-
No, nothing spoiled. One meal my daughter got mashed potatoes. She stuck her fork in and the fork got stuck in. She picked the whole side up and it was a rock solid ball. We laughed. I guess I would say most of it tasted like something you would order from a chain restaurant. My hubby said he was unable to cut most of his meat. We would have appetizers that were very good, and then a main course that was not. Or, appetizers that were not and a decent main course. Our one main dining room breakfast my husband left his meal after 2 bites. It honestly looked terrible.

Servers never ignored us. They weren't slow or rude. They were just very busy and stressed and had little time for conversation. I read here that there was a change in the work flow and it impacted things. I have no idea what it was like 'before', but things felt very stressed (for lack of a better word). Mind you, we have dined on many cruise ships-have not felt that before. Cabin steward was good, but also complained when I asked for ice. She said, do you really want ice every day? Um, yes please. Room was clean. There was no talking to us or our kid. None of the Disney special touches I read so much about. Like I said, 100% nothing wrong! But nothing superior to our other cruises.

I think it was my expectations. This cruise was double that of other ones and I did not see the value. However, there were other special moments that I will never forget. Oh, and the bed! OMG, it was sooo soft! I forgot about that!

You will still enjoy it! We sure did!

 

[Annge]

Thank you so much for elaborating on your experience. I appreciate it.

 

[MUN]

Hi! This group helped me, thought I would pay it back. We just got off a 7-day Western Merry Time Cruise on the Fantasy. Happy to answer any questions that I can. Will try to check this board several times today. Our *honest* thoughts from two seasoned cruisers on our first ever Disney cruise. Not sure I will cover everything. Off the top of my head!

• Pool area is as bad as everyone says.

• I've never said the pool area is bad. It can be crowded, but that should be expected on a cruise full of children.
• With the food being bad, should we bring our own food?

I have a question. Who was the captain and the cruise director?

 

[Charlies_Mommy]

Bad to me is unable to find a spot to sit or room in the pool. That is how I define bad. Peter was CD and he was lovely. We met him and he was super kind to my kid! Mind blanking on captain...but he got us in early to all ports! He was also lovely. Met him one night!

 

[piglet1979]

I have a question with the kids area. My daughter (10 will be a week or so away from 11) does not like loud noises or a lot of people. She has always been fine at WDW though. She does not like when things are more chaotic. Would you say the kids area was more like this? Just trying to get an idea of what to expect.

 

[o&smom]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would appreciate a bit more specificity around your opinions on food and service. This would help me a great deal.

Example - were you served food that was spoiled, under or over cooked, too salty, tasteless, greasy...? Were the portions too small?

Did the servers ignore your requests? Were they slow? Rude? Was this shipwide? Or just the food places? Did your cabin stewards not provide you with clean towels? Again, specifics will help me.

I am about to go on my first Disney Cruise, and your experiences will help me make better decisions, and perhaps better manage my expectations.

Thank you again.

I find portions good sized because there are multiple courses and I take advantage of all of them. I often order multiple appetizers or desserts and sometimes even main courses. There are plenty of things to choose from and enjoy what you like. Have a fun cruise!

 

[Charlies_Mommy]

piglet1979-mine was fine at WDW as well (and even at busier parks). I think the difference is she was being dropped off and left to her own devices. I think if I had prepared her more (in that way), she would have been better. Counselors are great, but the ratio simply does not allow for a lot of hand-holding. I met up with 3 other moms to find her a friend and this was great, BUT we never seemed to drop off and pick up at the same time. I will say, it is chaotic, but I tried to drop off at the less insane location and that worked. They are real close to each other. I also started telling counselors at drop off and that seemed to help. I thought things would be more structured. Club was really, really nice! It was just a bad combination for my kid. Hope this helps!

 

[Minnie - Not the Mouse]

I have a question with the kids area. My daughter (10 will be a week or so away from 11) does not like loud noises or a lot of people. She has always been fine at WDW though. She does not like when things are more chaotic. Would you say the kids area was more like this? Just trying to get an idea of what to expect.[/QU

If she is 11 on the ship she can go between tween and kids clubs. The tween clubs may be less chaotic. My daughter did far better with a friend at the kid's club. On both of our cruises she found a girl her own age to become cruise besties with within a couple of hours. I don't know if that is just luck or what but when she went to the club with her friend she would be gone for hours. If she went by herself the longest she would stay would be an hour or two. There are fantastic group activities but she was shy to do them without a friend.

 

[LCoulter]

Thanks for the review.

Did you do any of the Christmas activities? How were they?

I am most interested in the gingerbread house making - I was wondering if it is more geared to kids? From what I understand, you sign up for it on the first day but wasn't sure if I should just sign up DD11 or both of us. If I just sign up DD11, can I watch and help her?

 

[scgustafson]

Who were the Cruise Staff Team members?

 

[Charlies_Mommy]

Loved the Christmas stuff! Lots of singing and go to the winter wonderland shows. They were all great! Only one we missed was the deck party. All the atrium parties were cool! Gingerbread house making. You had to get in a LONG line at guest services to get tickets for that one. The line wrapped all the way to the back of the ship, so I did not wait in it. I can't answer your questions about whether you both need to sign up or not. But, be prepared. The line was insane!

 

[Charlies_Mommy]

scgustafson....I am terrible at names. I don't know the cruise staff members! My apologies. I was so busy just taking everything in!

 

[LCoulter]

Loved the Christmas stuff! Lots of singing and go to the winter wonderland shows. They were all great! Only one we missed was the deck party. All the atrium parties were cool! Gingerbread house making. You had to get in a LONG line at guest services to get tickets for that one. The line wrapped all the way to the back of the ship, so I did not wait in it. I can't answer your questions about whether you both need to sign up or not. But, be prepared. The line was insane!

Thanks for the heads up on the gingerbread house making. I will look at the line but if it's that long, I won't plan to do it.

 

[ValentineJulie]

Thanks for the review.

Did you do any of the Christmas activities? How were they?

I am most interested in the gingerbread house making - I was wondering if it is more geared to kids? From what I understand, you sign up for it on the first day but wasn't sure if I should just sign up DD11 or both of us. If I just sign up DD11, can I watch and help her?

I went on the Fantasy during Thanksgiving. You only need to sign up as a stateroom (each room only makes one house). I went to guest services (because I forgot to when I first boarded) about 2:00 and was able to get a ticket for each of our 2 staterooms....there were 8 tickets left.

 

[puzzledprincess]

Hi! This group helped me, thought I would pay it back. We just got off a 7-day Western Merry Time Cruise on the Fantasy. Happy to answer any questions that I can. Will try to check this board several times today. Our *honest* thoughts from two seasoned cruisers on our first ever Disney cruise. Not sure I will cover everything. Off the top of my head!

• Service was good, not great. Honestly, it was *no* different than service we have gotten on every other cruiseline. We had one amazing experience staff-wise on Palo and one really bad one in Cabana's. But overall, just good.
• Cabin was one of the best we have stayed in and very good design for families.
• Disembarkation was the BEST we have ever done. So easy. Wow.
• Food was bad. I am being honest. So bad my hubby won't talk about going back. With two exceptions-Palo and Castaway Cay.
• Character interaction was amazing. Don't waste time standing in lines. The various dance parties are great. My daughter danced with Ariel, Mickey, and Minnie. Goofy took her hand and skipped around an entire floor!
• Castaway Cay is indeed as wonderful as they say. Seriously, perfection!
• Activities were fun and family-minded. We appreciated that. Made for fun nights.
• The shows were good. I was expecting a little more. My daughter loved them. Again, liked how we could go as a family.
• Pool area is as bad as everyone says. We avoided it on sea days and stayed on the ship in Cozumel. That was worth it.
• Finally, kids club was kind of a let down. My daughter is 4.5 and goes to daycare. She is confident and at ease with other kids. Problem was, kids club is simply over-run. The noise and pure number of kids was too much for her. Getting her in was a struggle and she called to be picked up within 1 hr. Every time we came to get her, she was sitting alone and watching TV. There were structured activities, but she never engaged. Counselors were great, but it was really more open play, with stuff going on to the side IF your kids engaged. I will say one day we told them we had Palo and they kept her there the whole time (which was nice). First cruise with kids, so not sure what to expect. But we did NOT get the alone time we thought we would. I expected her to love it (we really talked it up). But, now, I see how for my kid's temperament-it just didn't work.
• All in all, lovely time. Lots of special moments. And we learned that we love cruising together. BUT, I am not sure if I can support another one at the increased fare. I already started researching kids club on Celebrity, which our line of choice. Need to do some HW and thinking on this.

Happy to answer questions if I can! Happy cruising!

Who was your server in Palo?
Also sad to hear you didn’t enjoy the rest of the food. Did you mostly eat in the main dining rooms, or Cabanas or room service?

 

[puzzledprincess]

Annge-
No, nothing spoiled. One meal my daughter got mashed potatoes. She stuck her fork in and the fork got stuck in. She picked the whole side up and it was a rock solid ball. We laughed. I guess I would say most of it tasted like something you would order from a chain restaurant. My hubby said he was unable to cut most of his meat. We would have appetizers that were very good, and then a main course that was not. Or, appetizers that were not and a decent main course. Our one main dining room breakfast my husband left his meal after 2 bites. It honestly looked terrible.

Servers never ignored us. They weren't slow or rude. They were just very busy and stressed and had little time for conversation. I read here that there was a change in the work flow and it impacted things. I have no idea what it was like 'before', but things felt very stressed (for lack of a better word). Mind you, we have dined on many cruise ships-have not felt that before. Cabin steward was good, but also complained when I asked for ice. She said, do you really want ice every day? Um, yes please. Room was clean. There was no talking to us or our kid. None of the Disney special touches I read so much about. Like I said, 100% nothing wrong! But nothing superior to our other cruises.

I think it was my expectations. This cruise was double that of other ones and I did not see the value. However, there were other special moments that I will never forget. Oh, and the bed! OMG, it was sooo soft! I forgot about that!

You will still enjoy it! We sure did!

I like the pillows on the beds so much that I went and bought some for home!

 

[puzzledprincess]

• I've never said the pool area is bad. It can be crowded, but that should be expected on a cruise full of children.
• With the food being bad, should we bring our own food?

I have a question. Who was the captain and the cruise director?

You definitely don’t need to bring your own food. There are tons of food options in the main dining rooms, as well as at Cabanas (buffet) and room service, plus little cafes. You definitely won’t go hungry!

 

[puzzledprincess]

Bad to me is unable to find a spot to sit or room in the pool. That is how I define bad. Peter was CD and he was lovely. We met him and he was super kind to my kid! Mind blanking on captain...but he got us in early to all ports! He was also lovely. Met him one night!

Peter is awesome! Guessing Captain Gus was the Captain...