First time on DCL - thoughts after the trip

[Agent 86]

Also jealous that the teens had a Battle Front tournament and video games in their teen center. Do they not realize adults can be gamers too?? I demand satisfaction! lol

An adult "video game" bar would be awesome - pinball machines, old school Space Invaders and the Nintendo Switch with four player Mario Kart would all be great!

 

[jdb in AZ]

This is probably my main complaint about the MDR food. It's all pretty much cooked to oblivion. And it never seems to really matter if you tell them medium rare - you're lucky if it doesn't arrive well done. I guess it just goes with the territory when serving that number of people all at once.

This reminded me of something that really made DH and I chuckle on our last cruise. One night we both ordered tuna. We always get our tuna rare - basically sear it briefly on both sides and send it to us. Our waiter was very concerned about this. We had to assure him several times, that yes, we wanted rare (bright pink, even red!!) tuna. Then the head server came over and wanted to verify that we actually wanted it cooked rare as well. Once it arrived (sufficiently rare, but slightly more cooked than if I'd cooked it at home), both the waiter and the head server came back around to assure we were happy and offered to cook it further if we so wanted. Someone even came out of the kitchen to make sure we were happy.

While we appreciated their attention to detail, it was kind of ridiculous in a way. We always order tuna rare and have never once been questioned about it at any land based restaurant. Obviously it's a pretty unusual request on a Disney cruise (though no where else we have ordered it). It cracked us up. I mean, have they never seen "seared tuna steak" on a menu????

I'm wondering if the chef was concerned that rare tuna might give you food poisoning. I've heard all the shrimp on DCL cruises is pre-cooked and just heated up (except for the stuff on ice.) On our DCL Hawaii cruise they had a buffet/picnic/cookout up on deck and I watched the head chef grill my "medium rare" steak til it was a burnt offering.

 

[Pens Fan]

I'm wondering if the chef was concerned that rare tuna might give you food poisoning. I've heard all the shrimp on DCL cruises is pre-cooked and just heated up (except for the stuff on ice.) On our DCL Hawaii cruise they had a buffet/picnic/cookout up on deck and I watched the head chef grill my "medium rare" steak til it was a burnt offering.

Actually, that's exactly what we thought and it didn't give me a very comforting feeling. I mean it's not as if rare tuna is a "rare" request. It's a pretty normal way to order it and often is the recommended way that a restaurant offers it. It made us wonder about the quality of the fish, itself, if they were so worried about it.

 

[suedon70]

Can confirm there was no charge for All Hands on Deck Platter from room service last week on the Wonder.

MJ

Excellent! It’s my favorite item I order from room service and I plan to do just that next week on the Dream!

 

[tvguy]

Food is so subjective. We've never been overly thrilled with DCL's food, but it didn't stop us from taking 5 cruise with them. In my opinion (and it's just that), Disney does a fine job of catering to their primary audience - families with children. Our family finds the food to be on the bland side, and lacking in originality. It's pretty basic stuff (though they often try to pass it off as something special), light on the flavor.

It's been too many years since I cruised Disney to comment on food quality. But as Disney is geared more to kids than any other cruise line, I would expect to food to be blander to satisfy kids. In the parks, a big seller is spaghetti with NO sauce for that very reason. I'd have to say overall dining in adult oriented land restaurants, food tends to be over seasoned these days. I can always add salt/pepper or other condiments at the table if I want more seasoning.

 

[tlprice]

I'm wondering if the chef was concerned that rare tuna might give you food poisoning. I've heard all the shrimp on DCL cruises is pre-cooked and just heated up (except for the stuff on ice.) On our DCL Hawaii cruise they had a buffet/picnic/cookout up on deck and I watched the head chef grill my "medium rare" steak til it was a burnt offering.

Our table laughed about the shrimp every night. For some reason we kept ordering it and every night, it looked like they just dressed up the leftover peel and eat shrimp from Cabana's. Finally by night 5 or 6 we all warned each other not to order the shrimp no matter how good it sounded because it always looked and tasted exactly the same.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

You know I was just thinking we ended up eating off ship a lot more this cruise...! A couple of the days we just got a couple small bites from the concierge lounge and some chicken fingers but mostly we ate lunch in port and even had dinner at a place in Aruba since we had a late night. We were turned away from Cabanas at 2:14pm one day which felt so early... The islands kind of put the ship food to shame this trip anyway!

Totally agree - we should have eaten a lot more off the ship... wish we did. This cruise though I traveled without DH and my friends we were with were not really up for exploring Aruba at night - and DH didn't want me out there by myself
Next time..

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We’ve been on 5 Disney cruises and our 6th is Alaska this June. We started cruising Carnival in June 2016 with our 4th booked for June 2019. We’ve been on the Carnival Vista 3 times and our next is on her sister, Horizon. I have to say, the food choices on Disney absolutely pale in comparison to Carnival, (at least their newer ships and the ships that have had the Fun 2.0 upgrade). There are so many choices of great food, that are not an upcharge.

I think the quality and taste of Cabanas is better than the Lido Buffet on Carnival, however because there are so many other choices, we rarely eat Lido for lunch. Breakfast is a wash between both lines and desserts are far superior on Carnival, especially the homemade ice cream, not the soft serve stuff. Carnival does have soft serve available 24/7, but this stuff is hand churned and is only served for about 4 hours everyday at lunch. Carnival’s pizza is also available 24/7 and is excellent.

We tried the Vista because of the amazingly low price and really love them now. I know we’ll never do a short booze cruise on one of the older/smaller ships, but they’re definitely our go to for 7-8 day Caribbean cruises, which usually turn into 14 day B2B cruises because of the value. I never thought I’d be a Carni!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We liked the food on DCL a lot better before we tried other cruise lines. Now, I'd argue Dcl pretty much has the worst food at sea. Quality, availability, variety. All areas are a fail when compared with any of the competition.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

i agree with the fact it would be much better if the buffet was open until like 3 or even 3.30 (esp on portdays) I have a big breakfast and 2nd seating for dinner, so having lunch at 12.30 or 1 is just too early not to mention being out in port.. I know the buffet is only open til 1.30/2 cause the chefs and servers are the same ones that need to do the evening rotations so they get a break to have dinner in between, but still..it would be nice.
I agree that the variety of the poolofferings gets limited esp if you go on longer cruises (11n, 12n and 14n) or do a couple of cruises in a short time spread...

 

[mevelandry]

We’ve been on 5 Disney cruises and our 6th is Alaska this June. We started cruising Carnival in June 2016 with our 4th booked for June 2019. We’ve been on the Carnival Vista 3 times and our next is on her sister, Horizon. I have to say, the food choices on Disney absolutely pale in comparison to Carnival, (at least their newer ships and the ships that have had the Fun 2.0 upgrade). There are so many choices of great food, that are not an upcharge.

I think the quality and taste of Cabanas is better than the Lido Buffet on Carnival, however because there are so many other choices, we rarely eat Lido for lunch. Breakfast is a wash between both lines and desserts are far superior on Carnival, especially the homemade ice cream, not the soft serve stuff. Carnival does have soft serve available 24/7, but this stuff is hand churned and is only served for about 4 hours everyday at lunch. Carnival’s pizza is also available 24/7 and is excellent.

We tried the Vista because of the amazingly low price and really love them now. I know we’ll never do a short booze cruise on one of the older/smaller ships, but they’re definitely our go to for 7-8 day Caribbean cruises, which usually turn into 14 day B2B cruises because of the value. I never thought I’d be a Carni!

I have to agree with you on that. When we went back to DCL after our first Carnival cruise, we have found the food offer to be underwhelming (and missed the Your Time Dining) and the adult entertainment very poor. And that was before we sailed on the Carnival Vista. DCL will have to step up their game before we sail with them again.

Hedonistic adaptation I guess. LOL

 

[AngelDisney]

We just got back from our first DCL trip (2 adults and 3 kids). The trip, in all, was great, but there were some items that we were disappointed in:

• The food - it got better as the cruise went on, but the food was not good to start the cruise. The quality of the food was simply not there. the quick service option by the pool offered little in the way of options besides pre-made items, which would have been fine, but...
• The availability of food at the buffet - the buffet was only open certain hours during the day (until 2:15 PM), we would come back from being at the ports and only have the quick service burgers/hotdogs/chicken fingers and fries station open. On days where we were in a port, we did not get back to the boat until 2:30, so going to the buffet for a light snack prior to dinner was not an option. Burgers and hotdogs are fine once in a while, but not (what felt like) every day.
• The constant little charges - $3.50 for popcorn to go into the theater, the servers coming around with souvenir cups and showing them to the kids at the table to try to sell them to you, the drink prices on the menu at breakfast being off by $0.50 or so, etc...

We were very happy with a lot of other parts of the trip (the kids club, the cleanliness of the ship and staterooms, our server team, character interaction, etc...), so the trip was not at all negative.

As for the value of the trip, if we did not have kids, I do not think that we would go on another trip with DCL given the price premium, but with the kids we probably will.

Just my thoughts.

Sorry to hear about your dining experiences! We always enjoy the food options on DCL cruises. However, we usually avoid burgers, fried food and pizza. I always plan excursions around dining times offered at the main dining rooms. If I am going to miss lunch, I would order room service which has steak sandwich and salmon salad. Much healthier choices and a few Mickey bars on the side always make my day. We can relax in our stateroom watching movies. This is another option if you sail DCL again.

 

[Karin Brown]

Here is my totally unscientific opinion. The best cruise line for my family is the one where quality of food, kid fun, crowd management and price intersect. So....
Celebrity....great food, no water slides, not crazy crowded, shows that bore kids.....not ideal

Royal oasis class, good food but need to run to 5 different places to get what everyone wantsand crowds mean there are lines. good speciality restaurants bad buffet, fun for kids, good shows, kids club least favourite of my kids.......maybe if price is right

NCL....great speciality restaurants, in the haven never need to go to the buffet for breakfast and lunch was good in buffet/grill and good in haven. Good shows on some boats others not for kids. Great kid activities great kids club. Overcrowded unless in Haven, haven is pricey!!!......best option for us except holiday weeks when Haven costs as much as chartering a yacht.

Disney....fun restaurant rotations, food is fine, buffet is good for breakfast, lunch and fast food is yummy ( sorry it isn't gourmet but greasy cheesy pizza and chicken nuggets is a treat). Pool gets crowded but if you get up early you can get chairs. Fun for kids, good shows, kids club is cool but they don't engage kids like on NCL when it's more like camp with counsellors. When kids were younger that sucked. Now they are over 8 I don't care as much. Cost reasonable given bigger rooms, no drink plans for soda, no speciality restaurant charges nightly etc.......bingo Spring Break 2019 we booked on the Fantasy

So no Disney food isn't the best. But it's as good as most cruises if you only eat at buffet or main dining room not upcharge specialty restaurants or the class booked only restaurant ( haven, aqua class etc). Worst food I ever had was on Princess years ago. Followed by buffet on the Magic before refurb ( aka prison cafeteria ). After that any all inclusive except one adult only one has been worse than a Disney cruise or any other cruise. And I'm including beaches Turks and Caicos which costs 11 k a week in off season.

Food rant done. Now I'm hungry

 

[suedon70]

Overall I like the food on DCL, but after cruising a couple of years ago on the Emerald Princess, I found that their MDR food was vastly superior to that experienced on the 4 prior DCL cruises I've been on (Dream and Fantasy). However, I will be going to Palo on my upcoming May cruise so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

 

[AngelDisney]

Overall I like the food on DCL, but after cruising a couple of years ago on the Emerald Princess, I found that their MDR food was vastly superior to that experienced on the 4 prior DCL cruises I've been on (Dream and Fantasy). However, I will be going to Palo on my upcoming May cruise so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

You should try Remy too! After experiencing Remy, we are hooked. DD20 really misses the special sparkling water they have. We love Palo brunch! It’s a must-do for us.

Enjoy Palo!

 

[Snowwhyt]

Ouch. And it is not cheap either.

Were charging.

 

[disneyholic family]

it's so interesting to hear the different opinions of the food..

we were on the Dream in August - 4 adults - DH, me, DD (32) DSIL (30)....
we all really enjoyed the food, both in the rotation restaurants and on deck....

i only ate on deck once...i can't speak to the regular pizza, as i ordered a gluten free one....it's available by special order...it was scrumptious...better than i remember 'real' pizza tasting... i inhaled it!!

contrary to most commenting in this thread, we did enjoy the food in the rotation restaurants...(some more than others)

and thought the service everywhere was outstanding...

 

[scootch]

Not sure what ship you were on but we were on the Wonder and food was ok, but definitely not as good as we got the on all our Fantasy cruises.

 

[lds0191]

After 13 cruises I have, overall, been very happy with the food. There have been a few items (pork belly, salted sweet potatoes & Eggo's disguised on the menu as Belgium Waffles) that I have not been happy with but other than that absolutely no complaints. Lets put it this way, I don't think any of us have left the ship weighing less than when we boarded, lol. True, we are not very picky and do not regularly dine at upscale restaurants. We have done Palo for Brunch and dinner and it was wonderful. IMHO

 

[CarolynU]

I also think sometimes the end result of your food in the MDR's is in a small part down to the expertise of your server and head server.
I hate my food served over cooked or lukewarm or cold. The difference between my experiences has been incredible. For my last three cruises on The Wonder my server has been off the scale amazing and when the head server has seen his servers/assistant servers have been overwhelmed he has pitched in and helped them out. This has ensured that the food has not been cooked and left under heated lamps to become dry and tasteless.
I have also had the opposite experience where I have received numerous apologies for cold over cooked dry food but nothing rectified in all 14 nights of the cruise. Funnily enough that was also the year where our entire table were pressurised to death to record everything as excellent. The head server was lovely. She visited us each night to chat, wandered around the dining room smiling, but not once helped her team out.