Just Back From The Disney Dream…

[disneyfaninaz]

We were on the Magic in August. It was our first cruise back since Covid. I have to say that the MDR food was mediocre at best, with the exception of the soups (they were all exceptional). Palo (both brunch and dinner) was amazing, however.

I wonder if the food has suffered because of supply chain issues. I also wonder, if the Wish took CM's from all the other ships and the remaining cooks/chefs are just not up to snuff yet. All I can say is to be honest on the surveys about the food so DCL knows they need to improve.

We're on the Dream for the fist time next May for the Transatlantic. I hope the food situation is better then.

 

[Kwami]

It's Beach/Picnic food..

Yeah, but it's not good beach/picnic food. The bread is almost always stale, the meat isn't cooked well, the chicken is chewy, and sandwiches sometimes come with surprise mayo.

The cookies and other desserts are delicious, though!

As for the rest of the cruise food, well, it's hard to argue that it's not somewhat bland. Almost every dipping sauce is just flavored mayo, almost every meat sauce is just a basic wine sauce, and the veggies are often overcooked. But I don't think I've ever had anything *bad* on a Disney cruise. It's all been quite OK, if not exciting.

 

[Remysister28]

I remember watching one of Pete’s dining reviews from the Wonder and he wasn’t too impressed. So I will go on the Dream not expecting more and maybe I’ll be surprised. I like gourmet food but I also love Mac ‘n Cheese

 

[Lilsia]

No good. That was on our last night at Animators. The beef was tough to chew and had a taste and smell of beef that has no seasoning or anything and just was like boiled? Not sure how to explain. All their beef dishes on the cruise had a “just beef” smell and taste. View attachment 726799


The bbq at Serenity Bay we had was fresh and hot. The teriyaki glazed grilled salmon was particularly tasty.

That is weird. It looks fine. But if you have low quality beef, it can be off. I have also noticed in life that sometimes our own taste buds are "off". Sometimes things for no reason at all, just don't taste right to us.

 

[Lilsia]

Yeah I usually don’t eat much on the island but the ice cream and cookies…lol

I load up on the cut up fruit, especially the mango.

 

[DVacationer]

Question about your experience that isn't food-related... How was the embarkation and debarkation process in Miami?

In particular, what time did you arrive at the port, was the process well-organized, and how long did it take to board?

Leaving the ship, did you attend your assigned breakfast, and was the debarkation and baggage pickup process well-organized or take very long?

Embarkation was smooth. Debarkation was total mayhem.

Firstly, the Uber driver that took us from Miami airport to the port was insane. He was cursing left and right and at one point was following a car and honking at her for cutting him off. Also, every Uber driver we had in Miami didn’t speak english. They were all puerto rican or cuban. We arrived to the port at noon, plenty of seats in the unthemed waiting area, and were boarding at 12:45 (we were group 16 out of 40).
Debarkation we were told we had to leave the stateroom by 8:15am so we did however we didn’t debark until 10:30am. Once we did leave the ship, it was so crazy , congested and traffic ridden outside, no ones reception was working so we couldnt even request a uber or lift, and there were very rare cabs available. We walked with all our luggage for 15 minutes away from that terminal until we got reception and called an uber as were other families.
Also the terminal was VERY un Disney. Ive seen videos of port canaveral with the model disney ship in the terminal, and Mickey, mickey ear tunnel. This had NONE of that. It was like a normal airport terminal.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We were on the Magic in August. It was our first cruise back since Covid. I have to say that the MDR food was mediocre at best, with the exception of the soups (they were all exceptional). Palo (both brunch and dinner) was amazing, however.

I wonder if the food has suffered because of supply chain issues. I also wonder, if the Wish took CM's from all the other ships and the remaining cooks/chefs are just not up to snuff yet. All I can say is to be honest on the surveys about the food so DCL knows they need to improve.

We're on the Dream for the fist time next May for the Transatlantic. I hope the food situation is better then.

See you on the Transatlantic, perhaps! We can’t wait!

 

[Kwami]

Also the terminal was VERY un Disney. Ive seen videos of port canaveral with the model disney ship in the terminal, and Mickey, mickey ear tunnel. This had NONE of that. It was like a normal airport terminal.

Disney shares the terminal in Miami with other cruise lines. The only permanent Disney terminal is currently the one at Port Canaveral. They'll be opening another at Ft. Lauderdale soon and at that point I expect to see fewer (or no) sailings from Miami.

 

[holula]

Also the terminal was VERY un Disney. Ive seen videos of port canaveral with the model disney ship in the terminal, and Mickey, mickey ear tunnel. This had NONE of that. It was like a normal airport terminal.

Apart from PC, Disney does not have dedicated terminals so no ship, ears etc, they’re basically all just boxes with Disney signs in them for the day.

 

[goofy4prez]

I understand the OP's opinions on the food and can't say I personally don't disagree with her. I did my first cruise with Disney on the Fantasy in 2019 and I won't lie, I was expecting the food to be excellent. All I did was set myself up for disappointment. I found the servers to be overwhelmed and the food rather underwhelming. I just came off the Dream earlier this month on a 5 night cruise (Dec. 5th-10th) and avoided the MDR's except for one night. I went into that with average expectations and it was what I expected, average quality food, which I was ok with . The other nights I dined in Palo twice and Remy twice and absolutely loved it. I stayed concierge and had tons of rewards points on my Chase Visa (yes I know there are better Visa cards) to pay for these meals. I just booked a cruise on the Fantasy for April 2024 for 7 nights in concierge. I plan on dining in Palo and Remy multiple times for that cruise, but will have tempered expectations for the MDR food and service. Other than the food in the MDR's, I absolutely love my time on the Disney ships. I will be cruising with Regent Seven Seas on the Splendor in March, so I'll see how Palo and Remy compare to their dining experiences.

 

[brentm77]

We were on the Magic in August. It was our first cruise back since Covid. I have to say that the MDR food was mediocre at best, with the exception of the soups (they were all exceptional). Palo (both brunch and dinner) was amazing, however.

I wonder if the food has suffered because of supply chain issues. I also wonder, if the Wish took CM's from all the other ships and the remaining cooks/chefs are just not up to snuff yet. All I can say is to be honest on the surveys about the food so DCL knows they need to improve.

We're on the Dream for the fist time next May for the Transatlantic. I hope the food situation is better then.

It's so interesting, because I thought the food on the Magic in June was the best we had with DCL. But others reported it wasn't good later in the summer, like you. I trusted our waiter and let him make suggestions most nights, which I think helped a lot. He always seemed to know what the best dish on the menu was. I made it clear I was looking for flavorful dishes too, because my biggest complaint about DCL is the lack seasoning. The suppliers in the Mediterranean may have been good too, which may have not been the case from the base ports later in the summer.

I've won't sail the Dream until next September, but on average, I agree with OP that the food isn't DCL's strong point. But I would still rate it much higher than OP. I would say I actually look forward to and enjoy most meals. I just wouldn't go out of my way to eat most of them if they were served by a local restaurant back home. They certainly wouldn't keep me from sailing. It's very possible the Dream is struggling from other reviews I have seen too.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I trusted our waiter and let him make suggestions most nights, which I think helped a lot.

That's an important point. The servers are often VERY good pointing people to the best prepared food at dinner, in my experience.

 

[epcotrulz]

I spoke to guest services. multiple times. Including the head chef. I was told I’d get contacted the next day by a manager. Then no one contacted me. So I had to keep going back to follow up. All they did was apologize and used the excuse that cooking for thousands of people is why the food is bad. Pretty embarrassing . Manager claimed he was powerless to do anything except have someone from guest relations call me after the trip. Still waiting on that call. They were all nice and courteous but how far does that go when you spend thousands and they do nothing of substance except apologize?

That’s shocking.

I got nothing else. I’ve never had an experience like this on DCL … I would be disappointed as well.

 

[1983DisneyFanatic]

Do you remember any other movies that were playing, other than Avatar?

 

[Garyjames220]

Do you remember any other movies that were playing, other than Avatar?

Avatar 2

 

[DVacationer]

Do you remember any other movies that were playing, other than Avatar?

They were playing Wakanda Forever and Strangeworld in the Buena Vista theater. Lots of other movies on the jumbo screen by the pool outside including Frozen 2, Mickeys Christmas Carol, Princess And The Frog and many more.

 

[auntlynne]

The photo of Animator’s beef does look unappealing. Sad, as I would say they typically do a decent job in the beef department (my usual selection, although I have been branching out into the sea bass options lately).

@epcotrulz - agree, the sea bass at Enchanted Garden is a delight.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Sea Bass is my always go to!!!!

 

[DVacationer]

The photo of Animator’s beef does look unappealing. Sad, as I would say they typically do a decent job in the beef department (my usual selection, although I have been branching out into the sea bass options lately).

@epcotrulz - agree, the sea bass at Enchanted Garden is a delight.

Sea Bass is my always go to!!!!

I have bad news about the seabass. I was looking forward to this THE MOST from videos I had seen. Well, it was pretty bad. It looked BEAUTIFUL. But when you bit into it, oil gushed out of it. It was like they had all the fish in a metal container like in buffets and it was sitting in there for hours before serving it so all the oil penetrated the protein fibers of the fish. Like if you deep fried cod but the temperature of the oil wasnt hot enough so the oil just goes into the fish. On top of that it had no seasoning, no taste. I had it on my first night, video will be up tonight. You can see how excited I am in the beginning and how great the food looks then at the end you will hear my disappointment.

 

[auntlynne]

Drats. Well, you did say the food was bad.