Pros and Cons of 3-Night Dream Cruise San Juan to Fort Lauderdale

[Cheburashka]

Pros:

• We had a great morning of sightseeing in San Juan prior to embarkation.
• Weather was idyllic for most of the trip.
• Captain did a good job of steering us away from forecasted tropical winds.
• Stateroom hostess did a good job.
• Given a private MDR table after requesting it at Guest Services (had already requested it in advance but that wasn't honored).
• Food at Palo (dined there twice), MDR and Serenity Bay was very good.
• Rainforest Room was fantastic.
• Stateroom and extended balcony was great.
• Midship Detective Agency was fun.
• Aqua Duck was fun.
• Service overall was very good.
• We had a Serenity Bay cabana and that was excellent.

Cons:

• Worst behaved guests I've ever seen on DCL out of 11 cruises. 80-90% of the guests seemed to be South American nationals and many of them acted entitled. Many instances of kids yelling indoors while parents passively watched. Kids cutting in line for the Aqua Duck. Rowdy drinking on deck 3 midday one day- so loud we left the gift shop & decided to go back another day. Families so self-absorbed they would just stop in the middle of a walkway & you'd have to find your way around them- this became a common experience on this cruise & they never apologized or said pardon us or excuse me or anything.
• Muster drill was twice as long as usual due to so many families arriving late to the drill. Everything tended to start late due to a lot of guests being late. Our server mentioned he had a 1st seating guest show up at 7pm and expect full service.
• Worst theater experience ever on DCL, due to abominable audience behavior (keep in mind I'm platinum CC and am fine with what DCL family audiences are normally like.) Kids in front of us talked constantly and were actually standing up for about a third of the show while their parents passively watched. Many in the audience talked throughout the show, which I could barely follow due to the disruption. For the first 20 minutes of the actual show (which also started late) there was a steady stream of people arriving late, walking through the center aisles, with several using cell phone flashlights to find seats & signal to one another across the theater. Saw CM intercept people who were filming the show at least 3 times.
• Entertainment staff at Bingo were lackluster. Minimal joking and dancing. Not the fun experience I've had on other sailings.
• No final jackpot bingo.
• We couldn't embark onto Castaway Cay until almost noon. Original embarkation time was supposed to be 10:30. They delayed our all aboard time by 45 minutes to compensate. No one's fault as it was due to weather, but still a bit disappointing. At least we docked and the weather was nice on the island.
• Our Palo server (who we got both nights) confused providing good service with doing tons of chatting and interrupting our conversation every few minutes to ask how we were doing. She even asked if we were ready to go while I was in the middle of drinking something (we hadn't been lingering & we didn't close the place down or anything). At that point I just put my glass down & said yes and we left. That was our 2nd night there & at that point we were eager to get a little peace, which we should have been able to get while dining at Palo.
• Our MDR server was lackluster, then he gave the longest "excellent speech" in DCL history. Learned about this guy's homeland, history of work at DCL, current staffing & scheduling issues at DCL, etc., all during one speech and without encouraging him to talk.
• Good Morning Disney was embarrassingly bad, with hosts giggling and snorting throughout the show one morning and doing other silly antics I never would have expected to see on DCL (like a host running up to the camera & putting his face right up to it while the other giggled).

Overall, we enjoyed the cruise and relaxed a lot. I would have been dismayed and possibly not returned if this were my first DCL cruise, though. I will not do another 3-night repo, as they seemed to phone in some of their entertainment offerings on this cruise. I also will not sail out of an embarkation port that's further south than Florida again. The culture clash of sailing on a ship of mostly wealthy South American nationals isn't something I want to experience again.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Oh my. Next year we are on the 5 night cruise from San Juan to Ft. Lauderdale, and I wonder what it will be like.

I am glad you relaxed and overall had a good time. It doesn’t sound like something we would want to experience.

 

[BStieers]

Well, shoot! We have a 7night San Juan cruise scheduled for the end of April on the Magic. Here is hoping the service improves before then. The culture clash will be interesting for sure.

 

[Dug720]

Whenever there is an issue with a server such as you describe, the first line should always be speaking to the server and letting them know you will alert them if you need anything. If things do not improve, that is the time to speak with the head server or manager. Especially if you have more than one meal planned at Palo because they will usually seat you in the same server's section each time. And you haven't said anything, they have no way of knowing you were not happy with the service. Disney may be magical, but their CMs are not mind-readers.

 

[Cheburashka]

Whenever there is an issue with a server such as you describe, the first line should always be speaking to the server and letting them know you will alert them if you need anything. If things do not improve, that is the time to speak with the head server or manager.

No, thanks. I work on improving employee performance every day at work and have no interest in doing it on vacation. Their training and performance is DCL's responsibility, not the responsibility of the guest.

As I said, the food was great. The service wasn't enough to ruin anything, just a little annoying. Oh well. Also, I want to emphasize that service overall onboard was very good, as I stated in my original post. I'm sure most dining servers were good and I probably just drew the short stick this time or my server was having a bad few days.

 

[NephieRN]

We had all of the same poor guest behavior on our NYC to San Juan sailing 2 weeks ago. Many in our cruise group blamed it on it being “jersey week” but I’m beginning to think it’s just people in general these days.

Our MDR servers were some of the worst we’ve ever had. Thankfully I got the expedited speech this time.

 

[Cheburashka]

Well, shoot! We have a 7night San Juan cruise scheduled for the end of April on the Magic. Here is hoping the service improves before then. The culture clash will be interesting for sure.

Most service onboard was great. Our MDR server was competent, just lackluster and gave a very long speech the last night. But he did get our food to us correctly and hot. Same for our Palo server, except she had the opposite issue of being too omnipresent. But still food was served well, and she gave no Excellent Speech.

I guess I just wanted to vent our annoyances here, because I don't want to do so on DCL's response cards, because it seems DCL is punitive toward crew who don't get top marks. I just didn't turn the card in this time.

 

[Debonna]

Are you notified in advance if your private table request is not honored? Or do you just show up to the MDR and find you’re at a table with another party?

 

[ScooterScott44]

We had all of the same poor guest behavior on our NYC to San Juan sailing 2 weeks ago. Many in our cruise group blamed it on it being “jersey week” but I’m beginning to think it’s just people in general these days.

Our MDR servers were some of the worst we’ve ever had. Thankfully I got the expedited speech this time.

Sorry to hear more about guest bad behaviors. While there is likely some impact by the specific dates/sailing, this does seem more like a general behavioral issue these days. I say this since it is not specific to DCL, it happens at the parks, other cruise lines and airports.

The companies have an impact in propagating the behaviors. For example the the dress code response that is on these boards and others about "wear what you want". Since no one draws a line and keeps that as a standard, the overall experience declines by degrees. As one thing is allowed to slip, then so do others until there really is no standard. Try walking through an airport, you barely can as people will stand in the walkway to wait for boarding. Rarely a gate agent will announce to not block the walkway, and that sometimes, helps but doesn't fix the real issues. Those are just a couple examples. The companies have some culpability since they don't hold people to a standard, and often they charge so the customer thinks they are entitled. When those factors get added to the "main character" that everyone think they are you get all the selfish behaviors.

 

[CaseyCruiser]

Well, shoot! We have a 7night San Juan cruise scheduled for the end of April on the Magic. Here is hoping the service improves before then. The culture clash will be interesting for sure.

It will be an amazing cruise.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Are you notified in advance if your private table request is not honored? Or do you just show up to the MDR and find you’re at a table with another party?

No advance notification, but we always stop at the dining change location to check. That way, we know what to expect when we arrive at the MDR for dinner the first night.

 

[rhit2004]

• No "Match Your Mate" game show and no "Diaper Dash".

The "Match Your Mate" game show was the first night (Friday Nov. 17th) at Evolution. You knew when you ran into somebody who had attended because the conversation immediately turned to Couple #2 (the lady face planted going down the stairs and the guy was slurring his speech after coming out from his sequester period).

 

[lucas]

No advance notification, but we always stop at the dining change location to check. That way, we know what to expect when we arrive at the MDR for dinner the first night.

Where is the dining change location? (We are sailing on the Dream next week.)

 

[RedHead0186]

Where is the dining change location? (We are sailing on the Dream next week.)

For the Dream, it should be Enchanted Garden. Double check the app when you get to port, Dinning Change will be listed there with the time and location.

 

[lucas]

For the Dream, it should be Enchanted Garden. Double check the app when you get to port, Dinning Change will be listed there with the time and location.

Thanks!

 

[Cheburashka]

The "Match Your Mate" game show was the first night (Friday Nov. 17th) at Evolution. You knew when you ran into somebody who had attended because the conversation immediately turned to Couple #2 (the lady face planted going down the stairs and the guy was slurring his speech after coming out from his sequester period).

Ah! Thanks for the info. I'll edit my original post to reflect that.

 

[Cheburashka]

Sorry to hear more about guest bad behaviors. While there is likely some impact by the specific dates/sailing, this does seem more like a general behavioral issue these days. I say this since it is not specific to DCL, it happens at the parks, other cruise lines and airports.

I sailed DCL this June and this January and didn't see any guest behaviors like what I described in my original post. I've also never seen anything like it in all of the other DCL cruises I've taken, and this was my 11th DCL cruise in the past 9 years.

 

[Cheburashka]

Are you notified in advance if your private table request is not honored? Or do you just show up to the MDR and find you’re at a table with another party?

You're not notified in advance. I went to Guest Services to ask because Dining Changes was closed by the time I was ready to ask.

 

[ScooterScott44]

I sailed DCL this June and this January and didn't see any guest behaviors like what I described in my original post. I've also never seen anything like it in all of the other DCL cruises I've taken, and this was my 11th DCL cruise in the past 9 years.

Lucky for you that you have not experienced this on DCL in the past. It was less common years ago and much more so on DCL. I'll state that while it seems that I bad behavior is on the rise, even on DCL, it is not that it was non-existent in the past. We have seen some bad behaviors including a drunk couple in a pretty heated argument in the elevator lobby outside of Cabanas years ago.

Your 11 cruises will seem like a lot to you, but that is a small amount compared to what they actually do, so your sample size is pretty small to really extrapolate trends. For a very rough estimate, DCL had 4 ships over the 9 years you have been cruising. If you estimate (and rounding off by a lot because I don't want to review the total DCL itinerary list) that three ships sail once a week and one sails twice a week that would be 260 cruises in a year. Your 11 cruises if done in one year represents only 4% and less than 1% over 9 years.

 

[kittylady1972]

Pros:

• We had a great morning of sightseeing in San Juan prior to embarkation.
• Weather was idyllic for most of the trip.
• Captain did a good job of steering us away from forecasted tropical winds.
• Stateroom hostess did a good job.
• Given a private MDR table after requesting it at Guest Services (had already requested it in advance but that wasn't honored).
• Food at Palo (dined there twice), MDR and Serenity Bay was very good.
• Rainforest Room was fantastic.
• Stateroom and extended balcony was great.
• Midship Detective Agency was fun.
• Aqua Duck was fun.
• Service overall was very good.
• We had a Serenity Bay cabana and that was excellent.

Cons:

• Worst behaved guests I've ever seen on DCL out of 11 cruises. 80-90% of the guests seemed to be South American nationals and many of them acted entitled. Many instances of kids yelling indoors while parents passively watched. Kids cutting in line for the Aqua Duck. Rowdy drinking on deck 3 midday one day- so loud we left the gift shop & decided to go back another day. Families so self-absorbed they would just stop in the middle of a walkway & you'd have to find your way around them- this became a common experience on this cruise & they never apologized or said pardon us or excuse me or anything.
• Muster drill was twice as long as usual due to so many families arriving late to the drill. Everything tended to start late due to a lot of guests being late. Our server mentioned he had a 1st seating guest show up at 7pm and expect full service.
• Worst theater experience ever on DCL, due to abominable audience behavior (keep in mind I'm platinum CC and am fine with what DCL family audiences are normally like.) Kids in front of us talked constantly and were actually standing up for about a third of the show while their parents passively watched. Many in the audience talked throughout the show, which I could barely follow due to the disruption. For the first 20 minutes of the actual show (which also started late) there was a steady stream of people arriving late, walking through the center aisles, with several using cell phone flashlights to find seats & signal to one another across the theater. Saw CM intercept people who were filming the show at least 3 times.
• Entertainment staff at Bingo were lackluster. Minimal joking and dancing. Not the fun experience I've had on other sailings.
• No final jackpot bingo.
• We couldn't embark onto Castaway Cay until almost noon. Original embarkation time was supposed to be 10:30. They delayed our all aboard time by 45 minutes to compensate. No one's fault as it was due to weather, but still a bit disappointing. At least we docked and the weather was nice on the island.
• Our Palo server (who we got both nights) confused providing good service with doing tons of chatting and interrupting our conversation every few minutes to ask how we were doing. She even asked if we were ready to go while I was in the middle of drinking something (we hadn't been lingering & we didn't close the place down or anything). At that point I just put my glass down & said yes and we left. That was our 2nd night there & at that point we were eager to get a little peace, which we should have been able to get while dining at Palo.
• Our MDR server was lackluster, then he gave the longest "excellent speech" in DCL history. Learned about this guy's homeland, history of work at DCL, current staffing & scheduling issues at DCL, etc., all during one speech and without encouraging him to talk.
• Good Morning Disney was embarrassingly bad, with hosts giggling and snorting throughout the show one morning and doing other silly antics I never would have expected to see on DCL (like a host running up to the camera & putting his face right up to it while the other giggled).

Overall, we enjoyed the cruise and relaxed a lot. I would have been dismayed and possibly not returned if this were my first DCL cruise, though. I will not do another 3-night repo, as they seemed to phone in some of their entertainment offerings on this cruise. I also will not sail out of an embarkation port that's further south than Florida again. The culture clash of sailing on a ship of mostly wealthy South American nationals isn't something I want to experience again.

Agree with most of your Pros also.

Con for sure...the process at the San Juan port on arrival...disaster! We didn't know where to go to drop off luggage, lines would open and close, where to line up just to get inside. At one point we were in a line to get into the line to get to security (we though) and a port worker asked our PAT...it was 12:15pm so she was about to pull us out of line and a rude woman shouted "we are 12pm" and practically knocked us over to get ahead of us...only to then hold up security when she and her party couldn't seem to figure out how to empty out their pockets!

Cons many of the same, though part of us wonder if it's really a cultural difference with some of the behaviors (crowding the halls, letting kids run a bit wild) that we experienced. I had to put on my American lenses and think that perhaps in the eyes of those of other cultures it was not perceived the same way. Now glad we didn't see any shows that trip...we did the Back to Back so the 7 night San Juan Southern Caribbean was not as bad.

Bingo was definitely better on our first cruise, same people running it "Ash with the Cash". We only attended 2 of them.

Our Palo server was actually great. He didn't rush us during brunch, and it was amazing food. Felt bad we had to rush HIM at the end of the nearly 2 hour meal because we had a tasting event to attend. My friend even wanted to take a pastry with her for later and he told her he would meet her outside and give it to her...guess it's not allowed.

The did extend our Castaway Time later as you know, but of course many things closed down early. It was still a great day on the adult beach.

Our MDR dining...food was okay overall but of course the menus repeat from cruise to cruise so we found the 2nd cruise we didn't want the same things. Not their fault. Our MDR team was AMAZING on the first cruise (we were a party of 8 adults) and they asked if we wanted to keep them for our 2nd cruise (4 of us stayed for the 3 night) and we said yes. I will say were were joined but 2 other adults at our MDR table 2nd cruise (and another couple who clearly showed up and were floored to find they didn't get a private table for MDR and got moved elsewhere). Sadly they did not experience our MDR team at their best for sure, due to the crowds and crazy. We already knew what they were capable of, so we understood that they had things beyond their control for sure. It was hard to get their attention 2nd cruise, 1st cruise they were always always checking on us and refilling drinks and just had TERRIFIC service.

We will likely NEVER do a 3 night cruise again. This may have been our first (I think we did a 4 night many years ago for our very first DCL experience). Now it may also have had something to do with timing, over a weekend and right before a holiday as well. I would definitely not do the San Juan port again. Wish we could have seen the entrance to the new Ft. Lauderdale port instead of just the luggage and exit area...saw photos and it looked pretty cool.

Also we've done the Dream 4 times now (once many years ago, once last year and twice this time) so I'd like to do another ship next time. I will miss Mauricio though...he wasn't around as much for the 3 night (he lead all of the adult activities for our 7 nights) but the person leading them the 2nd cruise was also great (forgot her name).

The "Match Your Mate" game show was the first night (Friday Nov. 17th) at Evolution. You knew when you ran into somebody who had attended because the conversation immediately turned to Couple #2 (the lady face planted going down the stairs and the guy was slurring his speech after coming out from his sequester period).

OMG...YES! We were seated on the bottom floor next the stage and had a FULL view of Mrs. Couple #2 and her faceplant glory! Every time we saw her the rest of the trip she did strike us as somebody who had to win all the things...as it was clear they were cheating while on stage...not that at least Mr. Couple 2 even knew that he WAS on a stage. Hot mess.