Second thoughts (I've read too many reviews)

[squirk]

Ok, Disneyphiles. Can you offer reassurance that DCL is worth the cost. My father-in-law is a veteran cruiser and he is treating our family of 4 (me, DH and DDs 11 and 8) to the 5-day Western Caribbean with MDAS on the Magic in Feb 2020. This is our first cruise and our first Disney experience. My kids are excited about the shows, movies, fancy dinners and princesses. DH and I are looking forward to all that, plus some quiet time if we can convince the girls to go to kids club.

I was so excited and really dove into the planning, but I see a bunch of so-so reviews on cruise critic and feel nervous. Ugh. Should I stick to this board and just ignore the Negative Nellies? Can anyone offer a pep talk?! We are not particularly picky people, but I know that emotions can be heightened when so much money and expectations are at play.

Thanks!

Honestly, as @Rob1872 said, why are you nervous? How are “second thoughts” coming into play? You’re not even paying for the cruise.

Even if half of what you read on CC was true, are you really going to go to your FIL and tell him “Thanks, but no thanks on the free cruise you’ve kindly bought for us. A bunch of total strangers on a cruise message board is telling me that DCL is crap. We’ll pass.”

Besides, whose judgment do you trust more - your veteran-cruiser FIL, or anonymous stranger “cruzelvr1968”?

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Ok, Disneyphiles. Can you offer reassurance that DCL is worth the cost. My father-in-law is a veteran cruiser and he is treating our family of 4 (me, DH and DDs 11 and 8) to the 5-day Western Caribbean with MDAS on the Magic in Feb 2020. This is our first cruise and our first Disney experience. My kids are excited about the shows, movies, fancy dinners and princesses. DH and I are looking forward to all that, plus some quiet time if we can convince the girls to go to kids club.

I was so excited and really dove into the planning, but I see a bunch of so-so reviews on cruise critic and feel nervous. Ugh. Should I stick to this board and just ignore the Negative Nellies? Can anyone offer a pep talk?! We are not particularly picky people, but I know that emotions can be heightened when so much money and expectations are at play.

Thanks!

Just did this cruise in March and my son and I loved it. We always love DCL (we are going on our 12th cruise in September, and our 3rd this year), but the MDAS for us, as Marvel fans, was also fantastic. The Magic is my favorite of the DCL ships - it is smaller and has a couple less bells and whistles than the Dream or the Fantasy. If you love Tangled like I do, the show is so much fun, as is the theming in the restaurant as well as the Snuggly Duckling.

As a Mom what I love about cruising and DCl in particular is that you can relax - no cooking, cleaning, driving, planning (once you get on the ship); no arguing over where your going to eat - there is something for everyone either in the main dining rooms or the quick service food places or room service or Cabanas buffet. Just unpack, then start having fun with your kids, or your spouse, or by yourself. Lots to do and plenty "not to do" - like just sitting on your balcony, or walking around exploring the ship, trivia, drink tastings, movies, shows. Do NOT try and do everything - do a few things you really want, and chill out the rest of the time -take it as it comes.

On that last Magic cruise I was walking down the stairs, and I passed Belle, all by herself, no handler, walking up the stairs. We said hello, exchanged pleasantries, and just kept going on our way. Fantastic moment. When we posed for a picture with Black Panther and I told him we were from Raleigh he said his sister told him they had a good science school there with a great basketball team. My son loved it. Through a window we saw Minnie walking out on desk, no guests around, waving and interacting with a crew member who was painting and cleaning the deck. Spiderman waiving down to Star Lord and Gamorra and Groot, dancing on the balcony below in the atrium. Just some of the moments you take in and then go about your day with a smile on your face.

As for Cruise Critic - I get a lot of useful information on Cruise Critic, but boy, there is a lot of Disney bashing by people who are loyal to other lines. Which, I guess here there is "other lines" bashing too. I think in part this is because Disney IS about 20-50% higher, depending on when you cruise, than other lines (February is probably a pretty economical time to cruise on DCL actually). Many people who spend less to cruise on other lines bash Disney because they think it is elitist or snobby or overpriced.

But remember Disney is a very small cruise line - only 4 ships (Carnival and RCCL have over 25, I believe). It has a very recognizable and in demand product - especially for families. They leverage their entertainment catalog - characters, movies and songs - to add to the enjoyment on the cruise. Also, DCL ships don't have a casino, which is a revenue generator for all other cruise lines. They don't sell "all you can drink" packages like almost every other cruise line. These are some of the reasons it is more expensive than other cruise lines. But these things are also why many people love DCL - less boozy cruise, less gambling cruise, more family fun. The other thing about DCL that I love is the attention to detail and they way they have little hidden extras throughout the ship (take the ship tour on the first day where they point some of these things out).

The high price tag doesn't mean you wont have a great cruise (especially since you aren't paying). Of course, you may decide you don't want to spend the premium to cruise DCL in the future. But if you are like the majority of people on THESE boards, at least, you will become addicted - if not to just DCL then to cruising in general. And if you don't - no problem, you have fun, you move on.

 

[Karin1984]

Keep in mind, people who are not fans, or had issues with a product or service, are more likely to leave a review than those who enjoyed the product/service.

One of my first jobs was in customer service for a health insurance company. The only people who called were those with a problem. This really messed with my perception of the product/services we were giving, my company was one of the better ones (in general), but when you hear all day everything that goes wrong, you start to think everything goes wrong.

If Disney Cruises were only so-so, why would Disney get 3 more ships? They are doing a good job, otherwise the ships would be empty.

 

[vacationer1954]

Ok, Disneyphiles. Can you offer reassurance that DCL is worth the cost. ... Should I stick to this board and just ignore the Negative Nellies? Can anyone offer a pep talk?! We are not particularly picky people, but I know that emotions can be heightened when so much money and expectations are at play.

The older I get the more three realizations are reinforced:

First, it is very rare that something survives very long charging big money for something not worth the cost. If it is relatively successful, then there are enough people who like it enough to feel it is worth the cost. Even when a dying business truly isn't worth the cost it's not as big of a difference as it might seem. Things don't go from shiny golden eggs to the depths of hell. In the grand scheme of things, the things that aren't worth the cost are like golden eggs with some scuffs on the outside and maybe a small crack - not something we want but not a complete loss - even though it may not seem like that while you're going through it, especially if you lean into the negative.

Having said that, complete losses do happen (like when an airline you are holding tickets on goes bankrupt and leaves you stranded in Reykjavik), but like I said that is very rare.

Second, there are always people on the Internet ready to try to make you think that something you like or something you plan to do is "the depths of hell". It doesn't really matter "why?" - it just is the unfortunate case. The good news is that there are almost as often people on the Internet ready to be cheerleaders for practically anything, so it balances out.

Third, and most importantly, the thing you really need to be concerned about is this thing you wrote about, "emotions can be heightened when so much money and expectations are at play." That's the biggest danger. The time to worry about decisions is before you make them. After you make a decision, especially a decision where it isn't free and easy to reverse course, you want to commit to it totally. I remember learning how to dive as a child. There are three things that could happen: You could perform the dive confidently; you could run away (confidently); or you could start performing the dive and have second thoughts midway through that cause you to make a weak dive. Only one of the three is likely to cause physical injury.

The best thing to do with a decision like that is commit to it completely, and not just commit to doing it but commit to enjoying the decision as much as is possible. There's a tendency these days for people to try to turn every less-than-ideal situation into an opportunity to complain. I bet people Instagraming their grievances have a worse time than they would have had they just leaned into the positive instead and redoubled their efforts to have fun.

(Well, you did ask for a pep talk. )

 

[mevelandry]

Ok, Disneyphiles. Can you offer reassurance that DCL is worth the cost. My father-in-law is a veteran cruiser and he is treating our family of 4 (me, DH and DDs 11 and 8) to the 5-day Western Caribbean with MDAS on the Magic in Feb 2020. This is our first cruise and our first Disney experience. My kids are excited about the shows, movies, fancy dinners and princesses. DH and I are looking forward to all that, plus some quiet time if we can convince the girls to go to kids club.

I was so excited and really dove into the planning, but I see a bunch of so-so reviews on cruise critic and feel nervous. Ugh. Should I stick to this board and just ignore the Negative Nellies? Can anyone offer a pep talk?! We are not particularly picky people, but I know that emotions can be heightened when so much money and expectations are at play.

Thanks!

What are the negative reviews you read?

I try to sail on different cruise lines and I don't see DCL with rose colored glasses. There are pros and cons (for me at least).

IMO, a first Disney cruise is going to be "magical": the service is great. The ships are very pretty. The shows are well done.

Food is a bit so so (Palo & Remy are better) and there are not that many activities for adults... However, you're not going to feel it on the first one because you're going to try it all for the first time.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[FSU Girl]

Th reviews you'll find on cruise critic are usually the more extreme. People tend to write a review if they had a really bad time or a really amazing time, but most of the middle don't take the time. The best way tor really get a true understanding is reading what people have to say on the boards, here and cruise critic. People will offer up examples and engage in conversation that is much more realistic than the reviews.

I've sailed on a few different cruise lines and Disney is hands down my favorite. I do love Disney, but I love how great shape the ships are kept in, how wonderful the service is. Everything isn't perfect all the time, but my best cruises have been aboard this line. You have a bit of time before your cruise, do some research, ask questions on here people are very helpful.

 

[Dug720]

There would always be negative reviews since you cannot please everyone. I think it's better to ignore these and look forward to an exciting cruise with DCL. The positive comments and reviews definitely outnumber the few negative ones. There are way more people who loved their cruise experience with DCL compared to those who didn't. Enjoy your cruise!

This.

Also remember that people who have a negative experience (even if no one else would see it as negative) are far more likely to post.

Also, people on Cruise Critic seem to take the “Critic” part uber-seriously and be more negative than necessary.

 

[Pens Fan]

I like to read on Cruise Critic because it's a great source for information. Their port specific forums are especially terrific, but if you took what a lot of those posters say to heart (about any cruise line), you'd never take a cruise. I've sailed on ships after reading review after review saying how horrible it was and had the most wonderful time. If you read enough on any cruise forum (yes, even on here), you can usually tell by the first couple of lines how it's going to go based strictly on the attitude of the poster going into the vacation.

To echo earlier posters - having an open mind is key to enjoying any new experience. Everything won't be perfect, but I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. We've never had a bad experience on any cruise we've taken. Heck, I'd take that even further and say we've never had a bad vacation, period. Have we had some less than stellar moments and crazy mishaps? Well, of course - but those often lead to the best travel memories. In the end, our worst day on vacation is still better than our best day at work!!

Take a deep breath, ignore the negative folks online and enjoy your Disney cruise.

 

[Dug720]

I like to read on Cruise Critic because it's a great source for information. Their port specific forums are especially terrific, but if you took what a lot of those posters say to heart (about any cruise line), you'd never take a cruise. I've sailed on ships after reading review after review saying how horrible it was and had the most wonderful time. If you read enough on any cruise forum (yes, even on here), you can usually tell by the first couple of lines how it's going to go based strictly on the attitude of the poster going into the vacation.

To echo earlier posters - having an open mind is key to enjoying any new experience. Everything won't be perfect, but I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. We've never had a bad experience on any cruise we've taken. Heck, I'd take that even further and say we've never had a bad vacation, period. Have we had some less than stellar moments and crazy mishaps? Well, of course - but those often lead to the best travel memories. In the end, our worst day on vacation is still better than our best day at work!!

Take a deep breath, ignore the negative folks online and enjoy your Disney cruise.

Yes. I am already planning my 50th birthday trip for summer 2021 which is going to be to Hawaii. The final part will be staying at Aulani and the first part will be a few nights in Honolulu. The middle part will be the Pride of America cruise to see more of Hawaii than just Honolulu and Aulani because I have not driven in 13 years (15 by that point as you do not need to in NYC) and do not want to deal with re-learning in a rental car. Like anything on CC, the vocal ones are the ones who hated it and the ones who loved it. I am going in with an open mind, but slightly lower expectations just to mentally prepare. Essentially as long as my cabin is clean and I can eat something I will survive - it is about the ports on this one.

I have also seen a quote somewhere about if you expect perfection do not travel because there is no such thing as a 100% perfect trip.

 

[chamberlain]

I love to read cruise trip reports and get a lot of information from them. Thanks to all of you who write them! That way I can kind of get the whole story of their cruise and the pros and cons can be explained a little more than what you may read in a short review.

 

[Lisa F]

this week's SNL with Adam Sandler had this great bit that was a spoof on the old NYC Perillo tours of Italy... but the funny part was that the gist of his whole commercial was that "if you're a miserable person NOT on vacation, going to Italy is not going to change you into a happy person."

There are a lot of miserable people in the world who feel just by virtue of spending money on something, they are entitled to a good time. But honestly, at least half of your "good time" comes from within. If you are cynical, don't get a feeling of magic from Disney and see all of the negatives of cruising in general you are not going to have a good time no matter what you spend and spending more might add insult to injury. Don't get me wrong, for what you are spending you are entitled to the environment and food and entertainment that can make for a good time but all of that in the world can't make a grumpy person have a good time.

If you love Disney, value what your environment looks like (the ships have a much more classic and upscale feel than many other cruiselines), value disney/marvel/family programming, are willing to speak up in the moment to a manager if something is not to your liking (because stuff happens but the disney difference is when stuff happens, they make it right), are willing to roll with the punches on weather because you have no control over it... chances are you are going to have an amazing vacation. If you don't care about Disney at all and just like cruising for the sake of cruising, there are less expensive options and you may not see the value in Disney. But honestly if you're going into your trip trying to gauge value from the get-go and resenting what you spent already, that is kind of a formula for a bad time. And if you're miserable at home, being on vacation isn't going to change that.

 

[apathetic]

Online reviews for anything are generally useless anymore. Companies pay advertising firms to post positive reviews about them and negative comments about the competition. There is really no way to use them as factual. But, if you are having doubts I'd say don't go on DCL. Because if you set your expectations too high because of cost, it will never live up to that. At the very least, cruise on another line as comparison. That is the only way you can decide if Disney cost is worth it. Though, DCL costs are greatly influenced by supply/demand. A lot of people want the Disney experience but there is only 4 ships right now. That is part of the premium cost.

 

[daisyx3]

On the CC reviews I have read, one negative review stood out. This is from a Dream review: "Our suitcases were taken from us as we arrived to the ship. Since our cabins weren't available, we started exploring the ship. On 11th floor we found pools with some people swimming there. We could swim and enjoy time and sun while waiting. For us it wasn't so. We had no swimsuits with us. Since we had no access to our suitcases we couldn't enjoy that time and were bored till about 2 PM to get to our cabins.
It is a long time specially for kids to stand and look at people who were aware about the situation and were prepared for it. It upset all of us."
So this guy admits the swimmers were prepared. He didn't do the research and he wasn't prepared, so his kids were upset. So this is a bad thing DCL has done? That set the tone for his whole review. There are so many other things they could have done on the ship, but he chose to focus on this? It's a good example because a lot of people focus on only the negative and then they post on CC to make sure you know about it.
Do your research...enjoy your cruise...make the most of it!

 

[suedon70]

To echo earlier posters - having an open mind is key to enjoying any new experience. Everything won't be perfect, but I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. We've never had a bad experience on any cruise we've taken. Heck, I'd take that even further and say we've never had a bad vacation, period. Have we had some less than stellar moments and crazy mishaps? Well, of course - but those often lead to the best travel memories. In the end, our worst day on vacation is still better than our best day at work!!

Ahhh I could like this 500 times!

OP, you'll no doubt have a good time if you look at the positives - we've had a great time on all our DCL cruises (and our non-DCL cruises, AND our land vacations, etc.) Sure, one time we missed Castaway Cay due to poor weather, but we made the most of it! Plus your cruise is free, you have nothing to lose, at least monetarily

 

[Erica1016]

On our first cruise in 2013, we were worried about the same thing. On the first night, we sat next to a man at the show who was on the ship with one of his granddaughters. He was telling us that he'd cruised 15-20 times on other cruise lines and that after only that first day he could say he'd only sail DCL moving forward. That made us feel pretty good about our decision.
On our second cruise in 2015, we talked to a couple on the last morning as we docked at CC and they said the same thing. They had been worried about their first DCL cruise because they had no children with them (it sounded like they might have had adult children), but they LOVED it and were already planning their next.
On our third trip in December 2018, we booked a placeholder that we're using next week! So, we're hooked!

I can't speak to other cruise lines, because I've only done Disney. But I feel just fine about the "extra" we're spending!

 

[MAmama78]

Thank you for the great advice, everyone! I am usually level-headed about reviews (my favorite - zero stars for a hotel because the complimentary toiletries were too small), but I lost my mind for a minute.

 

[darnheather]

On the CC reviews I have read, one negative review stood out. This is from a Dream review: "Our suitcases were taken from us as we arrived to the ship. Since our cabins weren't available, we started exploring the ship. On 11th floor we found pools with some people swimming there. We could swim and enjoy time and sun while waiting. For us it wasn't so. We had no swimsuits with us. Since we had no access to our suitcases we couldn't enjoy that time and were bored till about 2 PM to get to our cabins.
It is a long time specially for kids to stand and look at people who were aware about the situation and were prepared for it. It upset all of us."
So this guy admits the swimmers were prepared. He didn't do the research and he wasn't prepared, so his kids were upset. So this is a bad thing DCL has done? That set the tone for his whole review. There are so many other things they could have done on the ship, but he chose to focus on this? It's a good example because a lot of people focus on only the negative and then they post on CC to make sure you know about it.
Do your research...enjoy your cruise...make the most of it!

Sounds so much like Cruise Critic. LOL There are so many other things to do besides swim! They could have gone to open house in any of the clubs! They could have gone and eaten. They could have played shuffle board or lounged around. Vacation is what YOU make it.

 

[Dug720]

Sounds so much like Cruise Critic. LOL There are so many other things to do besides swim! They could have gone to open house in any of the clubs! They could have gone and eaten. They could have played shuffle board or lounged around. Vacation is what YOU make it.

That guy sounds like the one who scheduled his daughter for Bibbity Bobbity Boutique early in the morning on Castaway Day and then complained about having to choose that the money was wasted or keeping her from the water.

 

[scgustafson]

On the CC reviews I have read, one negative review stood out. This is from a Dream review: "Our suitcases were taken from us as we arrived to the ship. Since our cabins weren't available, we started exploring the ship. On 11th floor we found pools with some people swimming there. We could swim and enjoy time and sun while waiting. For us it wasn't so. We had no swimsuits with us. Since we had no access to our suitcases we couldn't enjoy that time and were bored till about 2 PM to get to our cabins.
It is a long time specially for kids to stand and look at people who were aware about the situation and were prepared for it. It upset all of us."
So this guy admits the swimmers were prepared. He didn't do the research and he wasn't prepared, so his kids were upset. So this is a bad thing DCL has done? That set the tone for his whole review. There are so many other things they could have done on the ship, but he chose to focus on this? It's a good example because a lot of people focus on only the negative and then they post on CC to make sure you know about it.
Do your research...enjoy your cruise...make the most of it!

Sounds so much like Cruise Critic. LOL There are so many other things to do besides swim! They could have gone to open house in any of the clubs! They could have gone and eaten. They could have played shuffle board or lounged around. Vacation is what YOU make it.

That guy sounds like the one who scheduled his daughter for Bibbity Bobbity Boutique early in the morning on Castaway Day and then complained about having to choose that the money was wasted or keeping her from the water.

And really, even if they ended up in boarding group 1, the most time they could have had onboard until cabins were available is 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

 

[cadien]

Also, I know that I will feel some level of responsibility for everyone's enjoyment and stress level. While I am not footing the bill, I am the chief vacation planner.

Now that stress I can relate to. Our first cruise was also a gift from the in-laws who were on it as well, and it was like their 20th cruise by then, and they STILL all looked to me as the vacation director throughout each day. Not relaxing!

There isn't any line that gets good overall reviews on Cruise Critic. I do find it useful for information but everything does skew negative.