Quick review of DCL (Fantasy)...and any questions?

[tnd]

Sigh - this review is just what I was afraid of. We are going on the Star Wars cruise over the February break and it was a huge struggle to get my husband to agree to the cruise because we had a lackluster experience on the Wonder in 2009 (our only other cruise experience). It also cost the earth, so I hope we do not have buyers' remorse. The food comment in particular was very reflective of our experience back then.

I am hopeful my kids like the kids clubs, but we may have to scale down our expectations of alone time. At least my 6 and 3 year old will be together, which should help. Even if it is not everything we hoped for, we'll still be in the Caribbean in February and not freezing in Detroit.

 

[Jeanwill]

I immediately assumed the poster was referring to oppositional-defiant-disorder which can sometimes can go along with being “on the spectrum.” But after reading the context again I think “odd” probably does mean something like “oldest dear daughter.”

 

[cruiser21]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks the DCL food is just so-so. Honestly we ate at Macaroni Grill a couple of nights ago and it was better then Palo. On the bright side I never gain weight on a DCL cruise. My kids are big fans of the teen clubs and that's the main reason we keep going back.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks the DCL food is just so-so. Honestly we ate at Macaroni Grill a couple of nights ago and it was better then Palo. On the bright side I never gain weight on a DCL cruise. My kids are big fans of the teen clubs and that's the main reason we keep going back.

I wonder if the food quality varies much from cruise to cruise? I've heard from many people they thought the food quality was as good or better than other cruise lines, and I've thought it pretty good myself. I've eaten at Macaroni Grill many times, and it's a good meal, but would not say it's as good or better than anything I've had on DCL.

 

[cruiser21]

I wonder if the food quality varies much from cruise to cruise? I've heard from many people they thought the food quality was as good or better than other cruise lines, and I've thought it pretty good myself. I've eaten at Macaroni Grill many times, and it's a good meal, but would not say it's as good or better than anything I've had on DCL.

I think it varies from cruise to cruise. The Palo menu a few years ago was better then the one now. Palo is good, but I've never found it to be anything exceptional. I think it's better on the Dream class than the classics. I haven't tried Remy yet. Hopefully, some day if we make it back on the Dream or Fantasy.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wonder if the food quality varies much from cruise to cruise? I've heard from many people they thought the food quality was as good or better than other cruise lines, and I've thought it pretty good myself. I've eaten at Macaroni Grill many times, and it's a good meal, but would not say it's as good or better than anything I've had on DCL.

I've found that most major cruise lines are hit and miss on food quality. What's good on one cruise, isn't so much on another (same ship, same meals).

The quality in the MDRs I equate to wedding banquet quality. Not great, but certainly pretty good. That said, I've had some really great dishes, and some really awful dishes.

 

[tlprice]

I have a question with the kids area. My daughter (10 will be a week or so away from 11) does not like loud noises or a lot of people. She has always been fine at WDW though. She does not like when things are more chaotic. Would you say the kids area was more like this? Just trying to get an idea of what to expect.

We just got back from our 3rd DCL cruise last week and my daughter is 10 1/2. She spent a ton of time in the kids club this cruise. I gave her check out privileges this cruise which helped a lot. Her favorite time to go was after 2nd dinner until closing. There were a lot less kids then and she really connected with the counselors because there were less kids. This was only a 3 day cruise. On our 7 day Fantasy cruise she spent almost no time in the kids club. On our 4 day Dream she spent quite a bit of time, but nothing like this cruise. I think it can just vary and you never quite know what will happen. Kids are unpredictable. I love to spend time with her, so if she doesn't want to go to the clubs, I'm fine hanging out with her and if she does want to, I'm fine doing my own thing too. Being flexible is key to having a happy vacation.

 

[cruisingtwins]

Our experience in the Fantasy was pretty much identical.

 

[cruiser21]

Sigh - this review is just what I was afraid of. We are going on the Star Wars cruise over the February break and it was a huge struggle to get my husband to agree to the cruise because we had a lackluster experience on the Wonder in 2009 (our only other cruise experience). It also cost the earth, so I hope we do not have buyers' remorse. The food comment in particular was very reflective of our experience back then.

I am hopeful my kids like the kids clubs, but we may have to scale down our expectations of alone time. At least my 6 and 3 year old will be together, which should help. Even if it is not everything we hoped for, we'll still be in the Caribbean in February and not freezing in Detroit.

There's a lot of kids that love the clubs...my kids being one of them. It's the main reason we have stayed with DCL. Food is subjective. Like I said in a earlier post I find it just ok others may think it's great. I don't cruise for the food so it's not a big deal to me. We've cruised on other lines and the food is always good but nothing spectacular. If fine dining was really important to me I probably wouldn't cruise.

 

[tnd]

There's a lot of kids that love the clubs...my kids being one of them. It's the main reason we have stayed with DCL. Food is subjective. Like I said in a earlier post I find it just ok others may think it's great. I don't cruise for the food so it's not a big deal to me. We've cruised on other lines and the food is always good but nothing spectacular. If fine dining was really important to me I probably wouldn't cruise.

This is totally fair. Fine dining is really important to me and my husband, but not so much on a family trip. We did make a reservation for Remy which I am excited for. I hope the kids love the kids club. My son did not when he was 4 but he is much more of an introvert than my daughters and they will be together, so I think it will help. Even my son is excited about the idea of the club for 11-14 year olds so he doesn't have to hang out with his little sisters constantly.

 

[keaster]

Kids clubs...in my experience I found they were less chaotic/better organized when they had the age groups divided up. Our daughter LOVED being in the clubs during that time. She is an only child and had no problem spending time with the age group she belonged to. I'm glad she got to experience the Oceaneer Lab/Club during the time before they merged the ages.

 

[connie1042]

We were on the Fantasy in Nov. 11-17. I thought the food was really bad. Was looking forward to the French onion soup. Could not eat it. Our server said he did not like it eather. Had shrimp cocktail, had on mug ful of lettuce and 1 small shrimp on top. We had a good laugh with that. It felt like all the food was precooked. It all looked great, but not much flavor. The ice cream was the best thing on the boat.

 

[cgolf]

We were on the Fantasy in Nov. 11-17. I thought the food was really bad. Was looking forward to the French onion soup. Could not eat it. Our server said he did not like it eather. Had shrimp cocktail, had on mug ful of lettuce and 1 small shrimp on top. We had a good laugh with that. It felt like all the food was precooked. It all looked great, but not much flavor. The ice cream was the best thing on the boat.

You would think with the increase in what they charge, they would up the food quality. While I am no foodie, our last cruise in 2016 I remember the food being pretty good, never like it was precooked. Maybe they are cutting corners to pay for everything Disney is trying to buy up

 

[Tim3888]

We were on the 12/16 to 12/23 cruise on the Fantasy and the food was basically good. Palo brunch was excellent. The one negative thing I noticed was that every beef dish tastes exactly the same, regardless of what they call it... steak, beef wellington, prime rib... it all seems like the exact same cut of meat with the exact same sauce on it. The non-beef dishes were all quite good.

I had one bad and sort of weird experience at breakfast in the Royal Court that was service-related. We had been waiting a very long time for our food and our waiter never came to check on us, so I flagged down another waiter and asked (very politely) if he could find out where our food was. I wasn't looking to make a big deal out of it, but our kids were getting grumpy Immediately another waiter yells, "It's made to order!" (which was a weird thing to yell, and something I was well aware of).

The manager apologized and offered a free drink, which I declined and our MDR server was also very apologetic later at dinner (I guess they must log these things?). We went back to the Royal Court again a few days later and after we ordered, the waitress looks at me and says very firmly (and completely unprompted), "It's made to order, okay?" She was very friendly otherwise, but I found that... odd.

I didn't rate them down on the comment card after this because our MDR server and assistant server were amazing and our kids loved them, so I didn't want that to blow back on them.

But just so everyone knows... the breakfast in the Royal Court is made to order.

 

[hanscarlet]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is ODD? I tried to search in order to find the answer, but of course it thinks I'm searching for 'odd' (not the abbreviation) so you can imagine the results.

Sorry, I meant ODD = Oldest dearest daughter as opposed to YDD (youngest). I suppose the O and the Y are generally not necessary though.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Sigh - this review is just what I was afraid of. We are going on the Star Wars cruise over the February break and it was a huge struggle to get my husband to agree to the cruise because we had a lackluster experience on the Wonder in 2009 (our only other cruise experience). It also cost the earth, so I hope we do not have buyers' remorse. The food comment in particular was very reflective of our experience back then.

I wonder if the food quality varies much from cruise to cruise? I've heard from many people they thought the food quality was as good or better than other cruise lines, and I've thought it pretty good myself.

I think it more about individual preferences and expectations than about varied quality from sailing to sailing.

The OP offered some helpful clarification in their later post:

Annge-
No, nothing spoiled. One meal my daughter got mashed potatoes. She stuck her fork in and the fork got stuck in. She picked the whole side up and it was a rock solid ball. We laughed. I guess I would say most of it tasted like something you would order from a chain restaurant.

From the context, I am guessing they don't like the food at most chain restaurants and wouldn't want to go there, or at least wouldn't expect that on a cruise ship. Personally, my family and I like many chain restaurants and go to them occasionally. Likewise we were pleased with the food on the ship and found it of good quality and variety. Plus, if you are unhappy they are eager to make you happy and bring you other options.

But I think you are wise to manage your expectations, and most importantly, pay off the trip and forget the price before you go. If you spend the whole time asking yourself "is this worth the money?" the answer may well be "no," but if you pay off the trip ahead of time just enjoy the atmosphere and the experiences, at the end you are likely to be much happier.

All the best!

 

[cgolf]

I wonder if the food quality varies much from cruise to cruise? I've heard from many people they thought the food quality was as good or better than other cruise lines, and I've thought it pretty good myself. I've eaten at Macaroni Grill many times, and it's a good meal, but would not say it's as good or better than anything I've had on DCL.

I very rarely listen to food opinions, because peoples tastes vary so much. We aren't foodies, so we have always liked DCL food for the most part, my wife in fact did not like Palo's menu because she is not that adventurous. On our RCCL cruise for example, I had heard that you need to buy an upcharge steak, because the rest are garbage. We were never offered an upcharge steak and their mdr steak was one of the best I have ever had.

So take food comments lightly, I did react to one of the above posts because of the lack of shrimp, etc. To be honest though, if DCL is going to charge me more for what I used to get at a better value, I would expect an improvement in the quality of the food offerings in the mdr.

 

[connie1042]

I have to agree about the food. Not good. Shrimp Cocktail should be more than one shrimp. Could not eat the french onion soup.Even the server said he did not like it. Loved the ice cream. Palo's was good. It is a cruise for kids. They loved it. I could never spend that kind of money for that quality again. Once and done. They loved the kids clubs and the characters. Castaway Cay was the best day.

 

[julie tinkerbell]

I have to agree about the food. Not good. Shrimp Cocktail should be more than one shrimp. Could not eat the french onion soup.Even the server said he did not like it. Loved the ice cream. Palo's was good. It is a cruise for kids. They loved it. I could never spend that kind of money for that quality again. Once and done. They loved the kids clubs and the characters. Castaway Cay was the best day.

I have never had a bad meal on DCL, if I didn’t particularly like my choice, they were so kind and brought out something different. Even the buffet there is so much to pick from, it’s not going to be the same as a independent bistro but certainly better than chain restaurants. It us a lot if money but in my opinion well worth the cost.

 

[mischief32]

I have only been on the Dream 2 times and we are going back next year and I thought the food was fine. I was not expecting a 5 star meal but most of those I do not like anyway. Fancy and good does not always mean great food. I was happy with all my meals but I guess we are not overly picky eaters. I was impressed with what was available and we did do the Palo brunch and thought that was lovely but I am not interested in the dinners at Palo or Remy. Fancy meals are not for me and I will stick with the MDR or Cabanas. I was most impressed by the cleanliness and helpfulness of the crew. I have been spoiled and I would be hard pressed to get my family on another cruise line now.