Biggest waste of time?

[wcw57]

Its summer and its time for frivolous threads such as:

What event/place you went/thing you did (besides waiting on lines, jostling for elevators, etc) was the most disappointing thing you did on your cruise?

I enjoyed Pirate Night but thought it did not live up to the preconceived notion I had created after reading so much about it.....

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Spending $50/pp for an Atlantis Beach day. This was back in 2000, so I don't know how much it cost now. We stay on the ship now in Nassau and get a free beach day on CC.

 

[RedSox68]

I personally cannot think of a place we've been or a trip we've taken that was disappointing. BUT there have been some unhappy experiences on excursions or surprises at places we visited:

Loved our Italian excursions, but I guess after years of hype and seeing pictures since I was a kid, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was a shock -- it was much smaller than I expected and was put off by all the vendors harping at us as we tried to get to the entrance. Loved (finally) seeing it, but was just surprised.

The "worst" port that we've visited and wouldn't care to see again was Acapulco. The divers were great and the tour we took up into the hills was beautiful, and we loved the fort (which was literally next to the ship), but when our excursion dropped us off in town to "shop" -- it was awful. The whole area smelled like one giant urinal and we couldn't wait to leave. The streets and park had trash all over and, honestly, we didn't feel safe. We grabbed a few souvenirs and got back to the ship. We've been all over Europe and the Caribbean and that was the only port that made us feel uncomfortable and unsafe.

The worst excursion we had was in Antigua where the tour guide was more interested in showing us her friend's pineapple farm (not on the itinerary), which resulted in her having to cut our visit very short at Nelson's Dockyard (our one-hour scheduled visit turned into 15 minutes!) It was awful and that was the one place my husband wanted to see. When we got back on the ship, there was a long line of people at the excursion desk of people from that excursion asking for their money back -- which we all got because she was an awful guide and really disappointed a lot of people.

Now our last very bad experience was in Montserrat in Barcelona. To make a very long story short, the tour guide was awful, lost people many times and gave people the wrong boarding time -- told some of us 3:30 and others 4 p.m. Well she waited so long for the other people to arrive, and couldn't find one member who had to take a taxi back in the end, that by the time we left up there there was no time to see La Sagrada or the Olympic stadium which were all included in our excursion. Another trip to the excursion desk with a line of people and we all got partial refunds because they were well aware that she left people behind too and were not happy.

 

[wcw57]

don't just limit the discussion to ports.....
btw, I won't be visiting Grand Cayman again....

 

[Chemist]

Remy dessert experience was a lot of money and a lot of time.
Especially since our kids don't enjoy the kid's clubs. I'd rather have spent our adult time somewhere else.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Event I'd most like to skip: the Sail Away party. If it weren't for my DD insisting that we have to go to the Sail Away party, I'd spend that time sitting on my verandah with a drink. Instead, as long as I'm cruising with her, we'll be sweating away on deck. Close runner up is the Pirate Night activities. I wouldn't mind going up for just the fireworks, but I can do without the rest of it.

 

[wilkeliza]

The mixology class our cruise group (not here) set up. Biggest waste of time and we ended up leaving. Was just 30 people already drunk at noon spilling alcohol everywhere.

We skip the Sail Away party now that we have already done it and to be honest we usually skip the welcome aborad show on the first night. Outside of that not much that Disney itself does.

I would agree with the PP on Atlantis. We didn't book that excursion straight through Disney but got the aquarium pass direct from Atlantis. The water taxi there wasn't so bad but the "aquarium" was pretty empty and then there was nothing else to do. Also I had crazy sticker shock on the Starbucks drinks right near Atlantis. I think my usual $4-$5 drink in the US was close to 10 there!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

The mixology class our cruise group (not here) set up. Biggest waste of time and we ended up leaving. Was just 30 people already drunk at noon spilling alcohol everywhere.

That's too bad. I've done private mixology classes that were a blast, but we didn't have people show up already drunk.

 

[Dug720]

The only time I've ever felt I "wasted" time on a Disney cruise would have been on my 2015 Fantasy cruise when I decided to check out this mythical Pirate Night Buffet. Wow... It took me at least 20 minutes just to get from one door to the other (it would have been just as long turning around as I would have totally been swimming against the stream) and I couldn't even get close enough to the food to know what there was much less get anything. You would have thought everyone had been starved below deck for days the way they were swarming.

I went back to my cabin and ordered a Mickey Bar and ate it watching the water go by on my verandah. And learned that I'll go to the show and fireworks on Deck 12, then head to my cabin and get a nice Mickey Bar from room service! (And avoid the feeding frenzy!!)

 

[wcw57]

DUG: funny you should have stolen my thoughts and posted them....even down to the Mickey bar. While I LOVED looking at the buffet displays, carvings, etc, I had just eaten a couple hours before. All the other cruisers obviously were on a 4 day starvation diet up until then.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Biggest waste of time and money - purchasing internet package to spend time on social media instead of living in the moment of the cruise. I love turning my phone off for the week I'm gone and just enjoy spending time with the family! Email, FB and everything else can wait until I'm back on shore.

 

[wcw57]

 

[xlxo]

DVC.... I found DIS to be better.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DIS&t=5y

I'll let others comment on port shopping with Diamonds International.

 

[CamColt]

The only thing I can really think of that seemed like a waste to me is the 80s music challenge game they play in Wavebands (we've seen it twice on the Wonder, not sure if other ships do it). The first time it was so bad that the next time we sat up the back to not participate. They forced us...we left.

 

[dcassetta]

The food at Blue Lagoon. Love the ride over, the beach, watching the dolphins and sea lions. But, the food is the worst!

 

[TestingH2O]

I found the Mickey Bars to be a disappointment. For all the hype they get, I just don't understand and find them to be very mediocre. Same goes for the Mickey rice krispie treats. Maybe I don't love the mouse enough.

How are these time wasters? Well, those were extra hours at the gym to make up for the misspent calories.

 

[thumpie's mom]

Toy Story show on the Wonder...bored me to tears. So happy to hear they are replacing it with Frozen.

 

[dcassetta]

Toy Story show on the Wonder...bored me to tears. So happy to hear they are replacing it with Frozen.

I think there is already enough Frozen, but I am glad to see something replacing Toy Story. I think it's the weakest show in any of the ships.

 

[bcwife76]

I found pirate night very underwhelming. As a pp mentioned, it's talked up so much on the boards (well, not as of late, actually) that I thought it would be a magical experience. It was a let down, except the fireworks, we ended up having a fantastic view of them by accident and that was fantastic. The buffet was lame.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Bingo. Expensive and not at all what we expected! This was quite serious stuff.. No laughing allowed!

I agree Pirate night. We book Palo for that night. Frightful menu.

The rest is all good!