Anyone else Upset with the OCT 25 thru NOV 1 cruise?

[magicalme06]

We are very upset with this trip so upset we may never return to DCL again DISNEY ruined Halloween for my kids. I wish we had never went. 1 hour of trick & treating and a costume contest was it for the kids. Oh but the adults had a big costume party that night but you know they were buying booze so Disney had a reason to keep it going. When i think of Disney i expect and pay for excellence and over the top celebrations. Disney failed in both aspects. The last DCL we went on in 2006 they had a party every time we left a port. In 2004 when we went on the the DCL Wonder they had the ship decorated for Christmas and has MS. Clause reading stories in the atrium and all kinds of fun Christmas type events. This cruise was just not up to the standard that I expect from Disney. If they continue like this people will go somewhere else. Oh and now the 11-13 year old kids can do what they wish like the 14-17 year age group and they were running all over the ship knocking on doors and running away. they were playing in the elevators and screaming at all hours of the night.
Oh and who ever posted the line-up of events on these boards a few months ago flat out lied Disney didn't do crap!!! Oh and people were caught having intercourse in the hot tub with kids running around and it took Disney 30 min to get security up there to correct the situation. this happened more than once. and they have jacked up the prices on everything that they sell on the boat. We felt very cheated. I mean we understand the ports of call issues but everything else POOR QUALITY, we received raw chicken tenders at the snack bar , raw scallops at luminers,ETC... THIS TRIP WAS CRAP AND I WANT MY MONEY BACK. I MAY TRY CARNIVAL NEXT!!!!
WE USED TO BE BIG DCL FANS CRUISING EVERY TWO YEARS BUT THIS LAST CRUISE WAS AWFUL! :


DISNEY WONDER 2004
DISNEY MAGIC 2006
DISNEY MAGIC 2008 (WORSE TRIP EVER) WE NEVER GO BACK TO DCL AGAIN!!!

 

[Mozart]

Welcome to the boards!

 

[slindamood]

We were on that cruise and had a great time. We did not observe what you did. In fact, for so many children on board, we wondered where they were. We were on deck 6 near the aft elevator and never heard noise in the hall or on our corridor.

We did not travel with children, so I do not have a child's perspective on trick or treat. Most likely the haul was not as great as spending two hours in a residential neghborhood. But the trick or treating looked like fun - directions looked like a treasure map to find the different stations around the ship. Most children also wore their costumes to dinner and it looked like each club also had a party.

We enjoyed seeing all of the costumes as the children went around and they looked like they were having fun. I have no way of knowing if one hour was enough - in my neighborhood, that is about the right amount of time.

The atrium was darkened and cobwebs were everywhere. Elegantly carved pumpkins adorned every surface. Lots of adults wore costumes to dinner. I know there was an adult costume contest in the atrium at 10:15, but I was not aware that it was a party. Maybe it turned into one, but we had seen enough costumes before dinner. And we had decided before the trip to not try to put together costumes. We saw some great ones just waiting in line for dinner. Wish we had gone to the party in the atrium, but that was our choice at the time to go elsewhere.

When we had to miss Grand Cayman because the port was closed, DCL did a great job in quickly lining up Key West. And in getting a program set up for the day.

We were in late seating dining and found the food prepared very nicely, especially considering the number being served. It was better than our last cruise, which was Thanksgiving.

The seas were rough at times and the pools had to be closed for a few hours, but it was not DCL fault. I think the captain did a great job in finding a route with sun in spite of poor conditions in our travel route.

Each cruise is different, and the same cruise is different for different guests. Had I experienced what OP did, maybe my opinion would be different. While this was not the best cruise ever (nothing will top the Transatlantic) it ranks right up there for being pleasant and enjoyable for us. And it did not change my high opinion of DCL.

 

[101DalmFan]

Nope, not upset at all. Just the opposite. We loved this year's cruise. We did the Hallowe'en cruise on the Magic last year as well as this year's and we had a fabulous time -- both cruises were comparable although both my DH and I were commenting that this year's seemed to have the Hallowe'en activities a bit more organized than last year, with a bit more decoration onboard as well. I just wish Ducky had been onboard this year as well as last year, but you can't have everything.

Booked onboard for the 2010 late-October Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Magic, a sign as good as any I guess that we had a good time (although that cruise ends Oct 30th, so we'll be just shy of the actual holiday).

Everyone experiences their holiday differently. As for us, it was MAGICal

 

[tig_n_pooh]

I have to agree with the original poster. This was by far the worst cruise EVER. We have sailed with DCL for 5 years straight. The food was terrible we didn't eat hardly anything, we also received raw chicken tenders not once but twice on separate days, the steaks were extremely fatty. There was so much down time, and when there were things to do they seemed to be always at 7:15pm. If you had first dining you couldn't go to any of them because our dinners always took 2 hours. If you had second dining you couldn't make it either as you had to get ready for dinner. How many origami flowers/animals can they expect people to make. Three things to do were flowers twice and animals once. Small children to not have the patience to fold paper. On one day they had to make a revised addition to add more things to do as people were complaining about nothing to do. I agree about the trick or treating thing. It was not for the kids at all. They had 9 stations to trick or treat at and each child got 2-3 pieces of candy from each station. hmmm 18-27 pieces of candy does not fair well with kids. I guess the people that did the dis trick or treating can say they had a great time, because they had added things for their kids to do, but for those that didn't it was awful. By far the food was the most horrible part of the entire cruise, the mickey waffles were so hard that you could literally break the ears off and they crumbled. I am a loyal DCL fan, but i expect more for what I am paying and this was just terrible. We did not rebook on board as we were all so disappointed.

 

[RussN]

Oh and now the 11-13 year old kids can do what they wish like the 14-17 year age group and they were running all over the ship knocking on doors and running away. they were playing in the elevators and screaming at all hours of the night.

I agree with you on the kids. We were on the EB Repo cruise and the kids were just too wild and had too much "free time" on there hands. On many times we would get into the elevator and every button would be pressed or there were kids sitting in the elevator just "chatting". My EB Repo cruise is enough to tell me to try a different cruise line. I will not be going back to Disney until the new ships are out and then I'll only give them one more chance.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the cruise.

 

[mindy327]

Welcome to the boards!

This isnt the place to NOT want to go on a DC.

 

[4hernandez]

I was also disappointed with Disney's celebration of Halloween. Because I had the luck of joining the DIS Board's Halloween celebration, my daughters did have a very fun Halloween. In fact, Disney should consider hiring "Suzie" who organized the Halloween for the DIS board members. One of the reasons that I chose this cruise was because I did expect the famous Disney over the top style of celebrations and parties. My children were not disapointed because they had the first celebration. I know that if they had only had Disney's celebration, they would have been disapointed- the amount of candy had nothing to do with it. It was over far too quickly, we were one of the first i line, and we would follow the clues to the next station to wait in line for one piece of candy. I think that Disney could have given out stickers, pencils or some other one-of-a-kind memorbilia. I never reallyfigured out why they celebrated Halloween on the 30th. We had a fine trip, because of the staff and fellow cruisers. That being said, it did not live up to our expectations. This was our 2nd cruise with Disney. Had it been our first, it would have been our only.

 

[IrishCowboy]

Oh and people were caught having intercourse in the hot tub with kids running around and it took Disney 30 min to get security up there to correct the situation. this happened more than once.

WOW...that's a new one. Guess somebody took the name 'Adult Pool' literally...

 

[cbcable]

I have to agree with the original thread. The hype of a Great Halloween Cruise was great but this cruise really feel flat. I am a long time DCL fan but something did not sit right on this cruise for the first time ever the sail away party Saturday afternoon was over before we set sail, when we finally set sail there were only 2 cast members on the dock to see us off. Anyway the whole candy thing does not bother me, but the fact the trick or treat was done while half the ship was still at port and the half that was on the ship did not know about it also the "Halloween Party" was done for only one hour on the top deck with only a few decorations. Why was the party not done at night like the Pirate Party, show a movie under the stars, have a all out party to celabrate what brought half the ship to this cruise. We all love DCL however this was a serious let down from what Disney is known for I guess this may be part of the reason the Disney stock is down $10 in the last month. The quality that we pay for was not here for this cruise. Disney needs to go back to what brought the people to them ---SERVICE--- above the rest!!!!!!!!!

 

[homrjay]

We were on this cruise as well. I too, felt a bit disappointed as soon as we got on board, as our last time cruising we did so at Christmas time and the decorations and such made that cruise that much more magical, where as this one didn't have any halloween decorations at all until Thursday. I had expected Disney to go all out, based on what they are known for; so again, a bit of a let down.

My girls had a lot of fun trick or treating. My husband and I were wondering about the map and only having 7 stops for candy; however, we found MANY more stops once we were out and about. Disney just didn't list them all.
I did feel the timing wasn't the greatest, but I think it may have been, if we had been at sea as was originally planned. I think they may have made some adjustments to the day, due to changing our at sea day, due to the weather.

The adult costume "party" that the first poster mentioned, was listed as a contest and not a party; so I am not too sure about that atmosphere.

I had thought that we may have a bit more to do or a bit more decorations as Castaway Cay on Friday, seeing as it was truly Halloween, so was a bit disappointed there as well. But not so much so, that I didn't still enjoy my family time.

We didn't have any food problems and actually thought the food was better this time around. And although I wasn't aware of the children's age criteria changing, we did have a could knocks on our door, just thought nothing of it.

We didn't book onboard for another trip just yet, but only because we want our daughters to be in the same age group again next time and that would be in 3 years.

SO although, not what we expected, we will cruise Disney again. One can only hope that they read their feedback and maybe make for a more Magical Halloween experience in the future, just as they do Christmas time.

 

[magicalme06]

WOW...that's a new one. Guess somebody took the name 'Adult Pool' literally...

FIRST OFF IT DIDNT HAPPEN IN THE ADULT POOL IT HAPPENED IN THE GOOFY POOL WITH KIDS AROUND..

 

[magicalme06]

Ok Let Me Clarify A Few Things Since I Am The Original Poster:
Ok First Off Dcl Is The Only Cruiseline I Have Ever Been On Because
I Trust That Disney Would Have Top Notch Security, Safety Procedures, And The Best Events Planned. We Have Been On 3 Cruises All Disney And With The First Two We Were Completely Satisfied.
On Our 2006 Cruise There Was A Party Every Time We Left A Port We Had 4 Stops Key West, Grand Cayman, Castaway Cay, & Cozumel.
And 2 Days At Sea. The Last Day At Sea The Walt Disney Theater Was Jammed Packed With Adoring Parents Waiting To See Their Cute Little Baby Graduate From "d Sea U" This Time If You Didnt Know That Friendship Rocks Was That Program Then You Just Missed It.
Disney Did Nothing To Announce It As Something Parents Needed To Attend And They Planned It At 5:00 The Same Time We Were Leaving Castaway And Right When We Were Getting Ready To Go To Dinner. So That Is Just One Example Of Poor Scheduling. The Day At Key West By The Time We Got Off The Ship Through Immigration It Was Almost Noon So We Had Enough Time To Grab Some Lunch And Then See A Couple Of Sites Then We Got A Page To Come Back For Trick And Treating So I Hauled Butt To Get Back Only Go To 9 Stations To Get A Small Bag Of Candy.
That May Be Fine For A 3 Year Old But For Kids 9 Thru 16 That Was A Big Fat Joke. It Was A Waste For Me To Go Crazy Trying To Get Back For That. They Had A Whole Day At Sea To Put Something Better Together. They Really Need Redo This Whole Pirate Thing It Has Been Done Exactly The Same For The Last 2 Years And It Is Getting Old Quick. Also They Could Have Used Te Pirate Decor To Help Decorate For A Halloween Party. As For The Room Attendant She Was Great We Loved Our Ms. Margaret! Our Waiters Were Great, Hugs To Michelle, Gary & Paula! As For The Costume Contest For Adults It May Have Started As A Contest But It Turned Into A Party Like Most Bar Tenders Will Tell You "we Stay Open While The Beer Is Flowing" And What Won The Contest Upset Some Parents It Was A Horses A** Now What Does That Say About Disney? We Were All Sent Packets Talking About What Was Appropriate And I Dont Think That Was. You All Can Think What You Want But Disney Is Known For Their Over The Top Celebrations Whether It Be A Wedding At Cinderellas Wedding Pavilion Or Their Cruise Line Or At The Parks. To Me Disney Means Quality, Service, And Fun And This Cruise Just Didnt Meet My Expectations....

 

[VacationJunkie]

I had a great time on the cruise and found it to rank as one of my best.

Yes, there were a few issues, and the ship didn't leave the dock as planned, but since the deck party started before the issue delaying leaving occurred, there was no way to delay the deck party till actual sail away (which I have had happen in the past). Things happen.

I didn't have any food issues and had chicken fingers from Pluto's on more than one occasion. All the food was wonderful. There was a bit of fat on a piece of steak one night, but I know if I had commented to the wait staff they would have gotten me a new piece.

As for Halloween, my perspective as a parent might be a little different from many, especially since my DD is only 5 months old; I felt it was well done.
I would have been extremely unhappy if the ship was decorated all week for the holiday. To me, that would have ruined many of my pictures. Disney did NOT bill this as a special Halloween cruise. It was a cruise that just happened to fall on Halloween, and Disney made sure that they acknowledged that. Halloween may be a HUGE deal in the USA with trick or treaters and costumes, but many other countries do not make a big commercial deal about it.
There were many spots to get candy around the ship. We saw many other tables that were not on the map.
I'll admit, I was surprised when I heard they were celebrating Halloween on Thursday instead of Friday. After all, for me, it was my DDs 1st Halloween and I wasn't sure what day she should wear her "my 1st Halloween" onesie. But, I understood the logic of doing it on a sea day. Yeah, that didn't work out as planned, but things happen.

Overall, we had a great time. I guessed I missed the "fun" of the couple in the goofy pool and the kids knocking on doors. Unfortunately, idiots will exist and join you on vacations. It is unavoidable. Disney can't control someone's common sense or lack of. As for the kids, fault the parents- not Disney.

I don't have another Disney cruise booked yet. Our next 2 are with other cruise lines, but I can't wait to take DD back. The goal is when she is old enough to go to the kids club and I don't have to pay for Flounder.

Sorry you had a bad trip. If you took it for Halloween, then you should have gone elsewhere. Disney didn't promise or advertise a huge Halloween extravaganza.

 

[magicalme06]

I had a great time on the cruise and found it to rank as one of my best.

Yes, there were a few issues, and the ship didn't leave the dock as planned, but since the deck party started before the issue delaying leaving occurred, there was no way to delay the deck party till actual sail away (which I have had happen in the past). Things happen.

I didn't have any food issues and had chicken fingers from Pluto's on more than one occasion. All the food was wonderful. There was a bit of fat on a piece of steak one night, but I know if I had commented to the wait staff they would have gotten me a new piece.

As for Halloween, my perspective as a parent might be a little different from many, especially since my DD is only 5 months old; I felt it was well done.
I would have been extremely unhappy if the ship was decorated all week for the holiday. To me, that would have ruined many of my pictures. Disney did NOT bill this as a special Halloween cruise. It was a cruise that just happened to fall on Halloween, and Disney made sure that they acknowledged that. Halloween may be a HUGE deal in the USA with trick or treaters and costumes, but many other countries do not make a big commercial deal about it.
There were many spots to get candy around the ship. We saw many other tables that were not on the map.
I'll admit, I was surprised when I heard they were celebrating Halloween on Thursday instead of Friday. After all, for me, it was my DDs 1st Halloween and I wasn't sure what day she should wear her "my 1st Halloween" onesie. But, I understood the logic of doing it on a sea day. Yeah, that didn't work out as planned, but things happen.

Overall, we had a great time. I guessed I missed the "fun" of the couple in the goofy pool and the kids knocking on doors. Unfortunately, idiots will exist and join you on vacations. It is unavoidable. Disney can't control someone's common sense or lack of. As for the kids, fault the parents- not Disney.

I don't have another Disney cruise booked yet. Our next 2 are with other cruise lines, but I can't wait to take DD back. The goal is when she is old enough to go to the kids club and I don't have to pay for Flounder.

Sorry you had a bad trip. If you took it for Halloween, then you should have gone elsewhere. Disney didn't promise or advertise a huge Halloween extravaganza.

AS I CAN SEE YOU HAVE BEEN ON MAY CRUISES AND AS DCL CRUISER YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT DCL KNOWS HOW TO THROW A PARTY. YEA YOUR KID DIDNT TRICK AND TREAT SO YOU DIDNT MISS ANYTHING. AND DISNEY DID SAY THIS WAS A HALLOWEEN CRUISE THEY SENT OUT PAPERWORK STATING WHAT TYPES OF COSTUMES WERE APPROPRIATE IT STATED NO FAKE GUNS, KNIVES, OR EXTREMELY SCARY COSTUMES. SO IF THEY WERENT ADVERTISING IT AS A HALLOWEEN CRUISE WHY BOTHER SENDING A LETTER

 

[magicalme06]

I had a great time on the cruise and found it to rank as one of my best.

Yes, there were a few issues, and the ship didn't leave the dock as planned, but since the deck party started before the issue delaying leaving occurred, there was no way to delay the deck party till actual sail away (which I have had happen in the past). Things happen.

I didn't have any food issues and had chicken fingers from Pluto's on more than one occasion. All the food was wonderful. There was a bit of fat on a piece of steak one night, but I know if I had commented to the wait staff they would have gotten me a new piece.

As for Halloween, my perspective as a parent might be a little different from many, especially since my DD is only 5 months old; I felt it was well done.
I would have been extremely unhappy if the ship was decorated all week for the holiday. To me, that would have ruined many of my pictures. Disney did NOT bill this as a special Halloween cruise. It was a cruise that just happened to fall on Halloween, and Disney made sure that they acknowledged that. Halloween may be a HUGE deal in the USA with trick or treaters and costumes, but many other countries do not make a big commercial deal about it.
There were many spots to get candy around the ship. We saw many other tables that were not on the map.
I'll admit, I was surprised when I heard they were celebrating Halloween on Thursday instead of Friday. After all, for me, it was my DDs 1st Halloween and I wasn't sure what day she should wear her "my 1st Halloween" onesie. But, I understood the logic of doing it on a sea day. Yeah, that didn't work out as planned, but things happen.

Overall, we had a great time. I guessed I missed the "fun" of the couple in the goofy pool and the kids knocking on doors. Unfortunately, idiots will exist and join you on vacations. It is unavoidable. Disney can't control someone's common sense or lack of. As for the kids, fault the parents- not Disney.

I don't have another Disney cruise booked yet. Our next 2 are with other cruise lines, but I can't wait to take DD back. The goal is when she is old enough to go to the kids club and I don't have to pay for Flounder.

Sorry you had a bad trip. If you took it for Halloween, then you should have gone elsewhere. Disney didn't promise or advertise a huge Halloween extravaganza.

OH AND IT IS DISNEY FAULT KIDS WERE RUNNING HOG WILD THEY CHANGE THE 11-13 YEAR OLD CLUB TO WHERE THE KIDS COULD CHECK THEMSELVES IN AND OUT REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE PARENTS WANTED! I TOOK MY KID TO CLUB AND LATER ON THAT DAY I FOUND OUT SHE HAD BEEN SWIMMING, HANGING OUT IN THE ARCADE, AND WONDERING AROUND DOING AS SHE PLEASED, WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

OP - sorry you didn't have a magical time.

What delayed the ship leaving from the port?

FWIW, on Key West day, it's usually late morning (11 a.m. or after) before guests are allowed to disembark, which does make for a shorter day.

I'm discouraged to hear about the behavior of the tweens/younger teens onboard, not just on this report but on others. We'll be taking our 12 and 11 y.o. boys with us for the Christmas cruise and you bet we'll monitor them carefully. They enjoy having some freedom onboard but they also know we check up on them (and have eyes/ears of others on them, too - nice thing about joining a DIS Meet Thread is that you get other adults who will know who your kids are and can let you know if they see them out -- cameras everywhere, don't you know?!)

We enjoy the non-scheduled time as much or more than the scheduled activities because we find things to do as a family (or maybe one parent/one child). Our first cruise, we introduced the boys to Scrabble in Diversions one afternoon... and they wanted to play every day after that!

Anyway, sorry you encountered some less-than-magical experiences.

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

I believe DCL sends the letter knowing people will wanna dress up since it ran over Halloween. Doesn't mean they need to give you a fabulous party. Personally most kids don't need more then 25 pieces of candy...look at how obese the country is. The reason for going on a DC should not be what holiday it falls over...just enjoy it regardless and don't expect things or feel entitled to them.
I would be upset about the food too, however it sounds like every little detail is being complained about. Live in the moment....stop focusin on what didn't happen, it's a bunch of negative energy. Use it positively else where.

 

[magicalme06]

I believe DCL sends the letter knowing people will wanna dress up since it ran over Halloween. Doesn't mean they need to give you a fabulous party. Personally most kids don't need more then 25 pieces of candy...look at how obese the country is. The reason for going on a DC should not be what holiday it falls over...just enjoy it regardless and don't expect things or feel entitled to them.
I would be upset about the food too, however it sounds like every little detail is being complained about. Live in the moment....stop focusin on what didn't happen, it's a bunch of negative energy. Use it positively else where.

Look if you were not there then dont comment. We arent new do Disney or DCL
In our family alone we have on 20 cruises between us all and 90% of them have been wonderful. I dont like to travel on holidays regardless but when you do travel you expect something fun for the holiday especially when your with someone like DISNEY. We went at Christmas in 2004 on the wonder and I didnt expect Santa to coming down the chimney, but Santa was there so was Mrs. Clause and the ship was decorated with beautiful christmas trees and gingerbread house, etc. Not everyone believes in santa but he was there.
It is about a level of expectations, service, and organization. Disney failed the cruisers in all these areas whether the cruisers know it or not. Repeat cruisers know or should know that things were way off. In fact they were so way off that Christian the assistant cruise director was calling a meeting on saturday because of all the complaints and rumors he had heard. So we are not the only ones complaining!!!

 

[magicalme06]

OP - sorry you didn't have a magical time.

What delayed the ship leaving from the port?

FWIW, on Key West day, it's usually late morning (11 a.m. or after) before guests are allowed to disembark, which does make for a shorter day.

I'm discouraged to hear about the behavior of the tweens/younger teens on board, not just on this report but on others. We'll be taking our 12 and 11 y.o. boys with us for the Christmas cruise and you bet we'll monitor them carefully. They enjoy having some freedom on board but they also know we check up on them (and have eyes/ears of others on them, too - nice thing about joining a DIS Meet Thread is that you get other adults who will know who your kids are and can let you know if they see them out -- cameras everywhere, don't you know?!)

We enjoy the non-scheduled time as much or more than the scheduled activities because we find things to do as a family (or maybe one parent/one child). Our first cruise, we introduced the boys to Scrabble in Diversions one afternoon... and they wanted to play every day after that!

Anyway, sorry you encountered some less-than-magical experiences.

Just so you know they have created a new club called Ocean Quest for ages 11-13 you do not get a pager and this kids have the authority to come and go as they please. So if you drop the kids off and you get off the ship at a port of call your kids could be running wild doing what they want when they want. It wasnt the 14-17 year olds that were causing the problems. It was the 11-13 year olds. Happy Cruising!!!