Arrived late last night after our cruise. This was our 1st 7-day with Disney, but our 2nd cruise with them. Overall, we had a great time, but there were a few things that could have made for a bad cruise if I had let them.
First, the good. On our last cruise, we had Adrian from England and Zoltan from Hungary as our servers, and loved them (Wonder was in drydock, so Magic was doing the 4-day last cruise). I had requested the same servers again, or if they were not around, then at least a Hungarian server, since I am Hungarian and don't meet any here where I live. Much to my daughters' (they are 12 and 7) joy, we had Adrian and Zoltan again, although this was a different Zoltan as the old one was no longer on the ship. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them, and it will be hard to get back to reality and not be served at mealtimes anymore.
We saw only one adult show, Match Your Mate. It was fun, but I just know my DH and I would have been so much more entertaining if we had been picked
. Other than that one show, we often were in bed by 10:00, sticks in the mud that we are. Couldn't help it though as we were usually so tired from a full day of fun!
Our stateroom host, Prachan, was more attentive than the one we had last year. Every night we had the chocolates, and other than our first night, a towel animal also, which was a hit with the girls. The last few nights he was in the hallway when we would return from dinner, and as I would let the girls in, he would stand in the hallway to see if they let out any exclamations of wonder, and when my girls did, he would just have a huge smile on his face! I was glad to know that he cared what my girls thought. In fact, on our last night, my eldest daughter asked him where he had learned to make the animals, and he took her aside and gave her a lesson in towel animal making! The rest of that evening and the next morning, she was practicing her towel animal skills. I fear I will be losing towels over the next few days, as they will be sitting in her room posed with various objects!
My girls only went to the kids clubs once. The youngest went to make Flubber, and enjoyed herself, the eldest joined up with the group when they went to Common Grounds and did not enjoy herself. She said it was very boring, all she did was watch TV, only 2 computers were working and the two kids on them would not get off to give her a turn, she did like playing Connect4 but after 15 mintues of it, she looked for something else to do and there wasn't anything. At the time, there was one counselor checking kids in and one with the kids, and there were only about 10 kids there. She did not want to go back, which was ok with us as we had lots of family things we were doing, and my girls aren't outgoing to begin with so we did not force them to go back.
We did Palo's Champagne Brunch on this cruise. I somehow neglected to tell my DH that there was a charge for this - he was a bit surprised when the bill came. We had a nice server, but I can't remember his name. The food was great, and there were so many choices it was hard to decide what to have, so we had some extras! One thing about Palo's though, where our table was, there was a large, maybe 7 inch piece of wood trim that was broken off by the window. It was not aesthetically pleasing, and I was surprised that it was left like that (spoke to another couple that had also seen it on their night in Palo).
As a family we did the Mickey 200 vegetable race, and believe it or not, we won! That was great fun!
We liked the islands we stopped at, and the weather was excellent. The seas however were very bumpy a few nights, and every sunset that I wanted to see had clouds block the sun at the last minute. It was neat to see so many stars at night (once the sun set the clouds often departed, go figure), where do they all hide here at home?
Ok, now the not so good stuff.
We had requested the same room as before, 6036. We liked the location, we liked the views from the verandah, however the room really needs to make its way to drydock and get refurbished. The sliding door does not close all the way, and the last night especially, during high winds, it whistled all night long. It also does not lock, and it is very hard to pull on the track. The bathroom sink is missing the chrome finish in many spots, the shower spigot leaks for a good 3 hours after a shower (drip, drip, drip), the tables and desk are scratched up, and there are stained areas on the tiles in both bathrooms. We can live with these, though, as I realize the room sees lots of use.
What did bother me though was that while we were told often that everything was new and replaced, two of our pillowcases were stained on our first night with what looked to be dirt smudges, and needed to be replaced, which they were. Also, I kept tripping over a loose thread from the bedspread, and cut off a good 8 inch long piece of blue thread. I thought these were supposed to be new?
The blankets were definitely not new, and one of our other pillowcases was so pilled up it was not comfortable to lay on (had that replaced, too). I recall the room being in much better condition the last time we sailed.
Our major complaint about the room however was the banging we heard every night but Saturday and Monday. It started about 2:15 a.m., and lasted for hours. Numerous times I informed guest services, to be told it would be taken care of. Finally, on our last night, I had enough. I had already called down to guest services at 2:20 a.m., and was told it would be looked at, and it still persisted. This was our last night, we had a long day ahead of us, and we all wanted to sleep. I was furious, so I threw on my DH's coat (robes all packed!) and walked down and stated my dissatisfaction. The head of security came over, said he would go see what it was. At the time, I had gone out on deck 4 and saw a guy powerwashing the deck and everything else around where our room was. I don't know if this was the cause, but after I spoke with security, the noise stopped. Of course, I was too wired up to fall back asleep right away, and the early immigration call came quickly, but the rest of my family had some quiet at least.
What really bugged me was that even though I had complained 3 days in a row, when I finally was directed to the manager of guest services on Saturday morning, Danielle, she showed no record of my complaints other than my early Sat. a.m. one! She said if she had been made aware, she could have done something, but no one informed her. This was not the experience I had on my last cruise, on that one, everyone bent over backwards to please you, but not on this one. And you know, when you haven't had a good sleep for 5 nights out of a 7 night cruise, you are not a happy camper.
I was also not happy that my questions about what was going on with people being removed from the ship were ignored and brushed off. See, when we were getting back on after shopping in Grand Cayman, there was a family with 2 girls standing by their luggage, waiting to get off. They were flanked by DCL officers. Me, being the curious person that I am, asked the family what had happened. The dad replied that this was a sick ship and they were being forced off, that he did not want his family on this sick ship. Then the officers told me to move on.
Hmm, this sounds bad, I thought, so off I went to guest services and asked what was going on. Apparently, they did not know that anyone was getting off the ship? Now how can that be? I pursued the matter, and was finally told by someone else that it was the family's choice to leave. Ok, but why? No one seemed to know why they left.
Then the hand wipes came out at every meal area. This is great for us, as were were making a point of washing our hands before we ate or drank anyway, but there were quite a few people that would take the wipe and just not use it! Perhaps if they had been informed that some were getting sick again, they would have realized the need for wipes? I just don't know. Also, at the Mexican lunch buffet, a young girl sneezed over the tortillas, and the cook did not remove them. I mentioned to another server standing around that the tortillas were sneezed on, but I did not see if they were eventually removed. Not all of the employees on the boat were as concerned with sanitation as others were!
In Cozumel, many more people with luggage were leaving, and on Thursday's sea day, my DH and SIL saw a woman on deck ranting and raving to everyone what an awful cruise they were having because her son was quarantined, so the whole family was not allowed out of the cabin, but she needed a cigarette and the nurse had told her to go get some air. My DH inquired at guest services as to what was happening, how many were ill, etc. As of Thursday, would you believe that still no one knew what was going on?
I really wish we had been informed as to what was going around, and why there was a need for people to use the hand wipes and wash their hands. I saw many people not wash hands in the washrooms, either, and maybe if people had been more aware that the virus was still around, they would have taken better precautions? I don't know about you, but I really start to be concerned when the people that should have information refuse to tell you what they know. Makes the situtation seem more dire than it probably needs to be. Thankfully, no one in my family became ill.
Overall, we enjoyed our cruise. Perhaps not as much as our first, but then, we were better rested on that one! I will be writing a letter to DCL at Danielle's suggestion, because not having the banging addressed in the very beginning (as I was led to believe it would be) really bothers me. So, while our cruise was not the perfect one we had before, we did have fun, we did not let the bad incidents ruin it for us, we kept a positive attitude, and I still believe that DCL is a great company and will probably sail with them again (am reserving final opinion though until after I receive my reply to the banging complaint).
Sorry about the length!
First, the good. On our last cruise, we had Adrian from England and Zoltan from Hungary as our servers, and loved them (Wonder was in drydock, so Magic was doing the 4-day last cruise). I had requested the same servers again, or if they were not around, then at least a Hungarian server, since I am Hungarian and don't meet any here where I live. Much to my daughters' (they are 12 and 7) joy, we had Adrian and Zoltan again, although this was a different Zoltan as the old one was no longer on the ship. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them, and it will be hard to get back to reality and not be served at mealtimes anymore.
We saw only one adult show, Match Your Mate. It was fun, but I just know my DH and I would have been so much more entertaining if we had been picked
. Other than that one show, we often were in bed by 10:00, sticks in the mud that we are. Couldn't help it though as we were usually so tired from a full day of fun!Our stateroom host, Prachan, was more attentive than the one we had last year. Every night we had the chocolates, and other than our first night, a towel animal also, which was a hit with the girls. The last few nights he was in the hallway when we would return from dinner, and as I would let the girls in, he would stand in the hallway to see if they let out any exclamations of wonder, and when my girls did, he would just have a huge smile on his face! I was glad to know that he cared what my girls thought. In fact, on our last night, my eldest daughter asked him where he had learned to make the animals, and he took her aside and gave her a lesson in towel animal making! The rest of that evening and the next morning, she was practicing her towel animal skills. I fear I will be losing towels over the next few days, as they will be sitting in her room posed with various objects!
My girls only went to the kids clubs once. The youngest went to make Flubber, and enjoyed herself, the eldest joined up with the group when they went to Common Grounds and did not enjoy herself. She said it was very boring, all she did was watch TV, only 2 computers were working and the two kids on them would not get off to give her a turn, she did like playing Connect4 but after 15 mintues of it, she looked for something else to do and there wasn't anything. At the time, there was one counselor checking kids in and one with the kids, and there were only about 10 kids there. She did not want to go back, which was ok with us as we had lots of family things we were doing, and my girls aren't outgoing to begin with so we did not force them to go back.
We did Palo's Champagne Brunch on this cruise. I somehow neglected to tell my DH that there was a charge for this
- he was a bit surprised when the bill came. We had a nice server, but I can't remember his name. The food was great, and there were so many choices it was hard to decide what to have, so we had some extras! One thing about Palo's though, where our table was, there was a large, maybe 7 inch piece of wood trim that was broken off by the window. It was not aesthetically pleasing, and I was surprised that it was left like that (spoke to another couple that had also seen it on their night in Palo). As a family we did the Mickey 200 vegetable race, and believe it or not, we won! That was great fun!
We liked the islands we stopped at, and the weather was excellent. The seas however were very bumpy a few nights, and every sunset that I wanted to see had clouds block the sun at the last minute.
It was neat to see so many stars at night (once the sun set the clouds often departed, go figure), where do they all hide here at home? Ok, now the not so good stuff.
We had requested the same room as before, 6036. We liked the location, we liked the views from the verandah, however the room really needs to make its way to drydock and get refurbished. The sliding door does not close all the way, and the last night especially, during high winds, it whistled all night long. It also does not lock, and it is very hard to pull on the track. The bathroom sink is missing the chrome finish in many spots, the shower spigot leaks for a good 3 hours after a shower (drip, drip, drip), the tables and desk are scratched up, and there are stained areas on the tiles in both bathrooms. We can live with these, though, as I realize the room sees lots of use.
What did bother me though was that while we were told often that everything was new and replaced, two of our pillowcases were stained on our first night with what looked to be dirt smudges, and needed to be replaced, which they were. Also, I kept tripping over a loose thread from the bedspread, and cut off a good 8 inch long piece of blue thread. I thought these were supposed to be new?
The blankets were definitely not new, and one of our other pillowcases was so pilled up it was not comfortable to lay on (had that replaced, too). I recall the room being in much better condition the last time we sailed.
Our major complaint about the room however was the banging we heard every night but Saturday and Monday. It started about 2:15 a.m., and lasted for hours. Numerous times I informed guest services, to be told it would be taken care of. Finally, on our last night, I had enough. I had already called down to guest services at 2:20 a.m., and was told it would be looked at, and it still persisted. This was our last night, we had a long day ahead of us, and we all wanted to sleep. I was furious, so I threw on my DH's coat (robes all packed!) and walked down and stated my dissatisfaction. The head of security came over, said he would go see what it was. At the time, I had gone out on deck 4 and saw a guy powerwashing the deck and everything else around where our room was. I don't know if this was the cause, but after I spoke with security, the noise stopped. Of course, I was too wired up to fall back asleep right away, and the early immigration call came quickly, but the rest of my family had some quiet at least.
What really bugged me was that even though I had complained 3 days in a row, when I finally was directed to the manager of guest services on Saturday morning, Danielle, she showed no record of my complaints other than my early Sat. a.m. one! She said if she had been made aware, she could have done something, but no one informed her. This was not the experience I had on my last cruise, on that one, everyone bent over backwards to please you, but not on this one. And you know, when you haven't had a good sleep for 5 nights out of a 7 night cruise, you are not a happy camper.
I was also not happy that my questions about what was going on with people being removed from the ship were ignored and brushed off. See, when we were getting back on after shopping in Grand Cayman, there was a family with 2 girls standing by their luggage, waiting to get off. They were flanked by DCL officers. Me, being the curious person that I am, asked the family what had happened. The dad replied that this was a sick ship and they were being forced off, that he did not want his family on this sick ship. Then the officers told me to move on.
Hmm, this sounds bad, I thought, so off I went to guest services and asked what was going on. Apparently, they did not know that anyone was getting off the ship? Now how can that be? I pursued the matter, and was finally told by someone else that it was the family's choice to leave. Ok, but why? No one seemed to know why they left.
Then the hand wipes came out at every meal area. This is great for us, as were were making a point of washing our hands before we ate or drank anyway, but there were quite a few people that would take the wipe and just not use it! Perhaps if they had been informed that some were getting sick again, they would have realized the need for wipes? I just don't know. Also, at the Mexican lunch buffet, a young girl sneezed over the tortillas, and the cook did not remove them. I mentioned to another server standing around that the tortillas were sneezed on, but I did not see if they were eventually removed. Not all of the employees on the boat were as concerned with sanitation as others were!
In Cozumel, many more people with luggage were leaving, and on Thursday's sea day, my DH and SIL saw a woman on deck ranting and raving to everyone what an awful cruise they were having because her son was quarantined, so the whole family was not allowed out of the cabin, but she needed a cigarette and the nurse had told her to go get some air. My DH inquired at guest services as to what was happening, how many were ill, etc. As of Thursday, would you believe that still no one knew what was going on?
I really wish we had been informed as to what was going around, and why there was a need for people to use the hand wipes and wash their hands. I saw many people not wash hands in the washrooms, either, and maybe if people had been more aware that the virus was still around, they would have taken better precautions? I don't know about you, but I really start to be concerned when the people that should have information refuse to tell you what they know. Makes the situtation seem more dire than it probably needs to be. Thankfully, no one in my family became ill.
Overall, we enjoyed our cruise. Perhaps not as much as our first, but then, we were better rested on that one! I will be writing a letter to DCL at Danielle's suggestion, because not having the banging addressed in the very beginning (as I was led to believe it would be) really bothers me. So, while our cruise was not the perfect one we had before, we did have fun, we did not let the bad incidents ruin it for us, we kept a positive attitude, and I still believe that DCL is a great company and will probably sail with them again (am reserving final opinion though until after I receive my reply to the banging complaint).
Sorry about the length!
