20 Random Thoughts from Recent Fantasy Trip

[Tim3888]

Food quality has gone downhill. Cheaper cuts of meat, less expensive fish, and the servers claimed they are driving for cost cutting and many customers notice it too. This was my ninth cruise, and I struggled certain nights to find even one appealing option. Need to step up the quality again.

This was our third cruise, and it feels like the MDR food has been lower quality each time, though it might be just my getting bored with the food. I still think most of the desserts are pretty good. The appetizers and entrees are hit or miss. I don't order any beef dishes: every one tastes exactly the same, whatever they happen to call it.

I thought the pizza at Luigi's was so-so. The BBQ chicken was actually pretty good. Cheese & pepperoni were pretty low quality. They had a "pear and onion" pizza or something like that and boy, was it awful. Tasted like hot garbage, to steal a line from The Office.

Chicken fingers and burgers are both fine.

One gem we found (that we somehow missed on the first two cruises) is Filmore's Favorites. Their paninis are really good. They had a pesto/mozzarella one in particular that we thought was excellent.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

I hadn't hard they had gone away with the printed navigators. We really like that and will ask for one each night. Going through them is one of our favorite things!

Totally agree about the pools and the gym. I wouldn't even consider getting in one of those gross pools, I will get in the adult one. I no longer even attempt the gym, I just run the track.

 

[DrLolo]

I was also on this 3/9-3/16 sailing. This was our 1st DCL sailing, though we’ve sailed Princess & RCCL previously. My own random thoughts...

Though probably in the minority, I was hoping for pump bottles & body wash & disappointed in no body wash or lotion. Our terrific Host did track down 2 small tubes of lotion which I appreciated. I also appreciated the laundry facilities which made it easier to pack a lot less than I normally do.

I like & dislike the app. It is handy to get timely reminders for events, and those seemed to work perfectly. The message function was ridiculous! Luckily it worked when DS wanted to be picked up from Oceaneer Club, but otherwise it was totally unreliable. Messages wouldn’t even come through when the app was refreshed, but randomly and hours later. I found it stressful. One of my favorite parts of cruising is being able to disconnect. I didn’t get paper navigators but might do so next time to avoid the app / phone stress.

I was excited to check out the Aqualab. It was so hard to find, dark & uninviting. DS 5 wouldn’t go near it - he ran away up the stairs to the sports deck! He also disliked Oceaneer because a “big kid was rude and bossing everyone around” and by the end of the week refused to go (sigh... ). I don’t know if distinct age groups would have made a difference, but I suspect so. He liked the Star Wars command post, but I agree that it was more flash than substance. It looked really impressive, but the simulation game was fairly limited. While DS was somewhat overwhelmed by his 1st cruise & didn’t take full advantage of all DCL has to offer, he still had a great time and wants to go again. He couldn’t get enough classic Mickey (& pals) cartoons!

Food - I was pleasantly surprised after reading many “DCL food is awful & has gone downhill” threads prior to sailing. We did Palo brunch but otherwise had seated meals in the main dining rooms for dinner every night, with breakfast / lunch mainly in Cabanas. For reference, we live in a major metro are with plentiful excellent non-chain dining options and have a fairly sophisticated palate. I found something to enjoy at every meal, and found the food better than non-specialty dining on RCCL & Princess. The exceptions - coffee was as bad as folks on this board report and the pizza did not look very appetizing. While I enjoyed Palo brunch, and was so thankful to the Oceaneer staff who managed to keep DS there for a few hours while we ate, I was disappointed in the entrees. The antipasti buffet was fabulous, and the entrees (lasagna, chicken parm & eggplant) were better than MDR, but didn’t blow me away. Our servers in all venues were amazing. Sam & Miguel truly delivered that Disney Magic, literally! They performed nightly magic tricks and offered spot on food & wine recommendations. Our server Dejan in Palo was delightful. We only ordered room service a few times, but I enjoyed everything except for the steak panini. All was delivered promptly and the food was hot & fresh.

We loved heading up to the pool deck after early seating dinner to watch a movie on Funnelvision. But why no G rated films in Buena Vista? Everything was PG or PG13, even the 8:30 am family showing. Funnel vision was fun but loud & chaotic during the day. Maybe show a classic for all ages once a day in BV instead of another showing of Captain Marvel?

 

[bunnm09]

For some reason both of these seem to be ship-dependent - I believe it's the Magic (and maybe the Wonder) that does have Coke Zero/Coke No Sugar in the on-board dispensers. Just like it's only the classic ships that I've seen the more "exotic" flavors of softserve - mango, blueberry, etc. The Dream class ships do certainly have a more boring selection (I can't stand chocolate ice cream).



The size of the adult pool in particular on the Dream class is a sore spot for me, and indeed other posters on here, and I've barely used them as a result. The classics are much better.

Just got off the dream and they had blueberry, mango and blueberry mango swirl flavors. So not restricted to the classics at all

 

[beaglefan]

Our terrific Host did track down 2 small tubes of lotion which I appreciated.

I asked my host for lotion. He said the new policy it was only provided upon request, and he had to write down on a log how many bottles went to which room.

I know some people take advantage of requesting extras to take home, the same thing happens at my gym, but to not even be provided a single bottle of lotion is ridiculous. A $100/night hotel offers this on the bathroom counter upon check-in. At 5-10x this amount, I don’t think I need to ask.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I asked my host for lotion. He said the new policy it was only provided upon request, and he had to write down on a log how many bottles went to which room.

I know some people take advantage of requesting extras to take home, the same thing happens at my gym, but to not even be provided a single bottle of lotion is ridiculous. A $100/night hotel offers this on the bathroom counter upon check-in. At 5-10x this amount, I don’t think I need to ask.

Was there no lotion in a refillable container?

I have to say I feel the whole problem could have been remedied with some reasonable limits: your toiletries will be replaced 2x on a 3-4 night cruise, 3x on a 7-8 night, 4x on 9-13 night. Something like that.

 

[xiphoid76]

I actually like the pizza on board the ships - tastes like high school to me - thin and crispy But the chicken fingers are way better.

 

[Keyser]

Thanks for the updates! We will be on this itinerary in September. Did you get off of the ship in Tortola and/or St Thomas? If so, what were your comments on those?

Yes, we did an excursion on our own (to the Baths) in Tortola, and a Disney one in St. Thomas. I have a super-long post on the Baths here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...hs-tortola-on-your-own.3740668/#post-60399227
and a shorter one about the St. Thomas excursion as a reply in the thread here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...-antigua-and-st-thomas.3740374/#post-60392947