DCL Magic - British Isles! Continued!
Entertainment – Overall, it was good. This is where I think you really have to determine what is right for you and your family on a cruise.
The stage shows were wonderful. We saw Tangled & Disney Dreams, missed Twice Charmed. Both shows were extremely well done. Top notch acting, singing, costumes, stage sets, etc. I expected nothing less. Tangled could easily have been a show in Hollywood Studios, it was great. However, Disney Dreams was kind of like Believe. It was cute and had a great message, but a one and done for us.
Character meet & greets were abundant and lines never got too crazy. The lobby was closed off one afternoon for the Princess meet (free, but ticketed) and it was almost empty. They started letting “regular” people in I believe, which was nice.
Adult activities were pretty limited during the day. I honestly saw trivia & bingo. Oh, we did attend the DVC presentation on the 2nd sea day, just because we were curious and I did go to the Officer Pin Trading. On a Caribbean cruise, this wouldn’t affect us much because we would be in the pools or on deck most of the day, however, on this cruise where you spend the majority of time inside, it felt a little lacking. We did do a bunch of trivia, but that was mostly because of the other couples we met and ended up hanging out with quite a bunch. So, we had fun doing it for sure, but if it was just the 2 of us, not so much. There were small stretches of time where we did get a little bored. DH missed having a casino as he likes dropping in and going through $20 or so, but I didn’t mind it at all.
The adult evening entertainment was much better and we had a great time at the various activities, but except for a Club DJ, it was over at 11PM. This really didn’t matter on this particular cruise, because we were so tired every night, but I can see on a Caribbean cruise, we would be a little disappointed. We do enjoy the late-night activities for the most part.
Variety acts were pretty good. We enjoyed the ventriloquist/comedian the most. We actually saw him twice, both an adult and family show. They also had Junk, DNA (a mind reading duo from Britain’s Got Talent), and an Irish singing group.
Public Spaces – The ship is beautiful and very clean, no debate here. And it was pretty easy to get around once you got your bearings. It did feel smaller compared to other ships we’ve been on, but I don’t consider that a negative at all. I really liked how the shops are laid out and how you can go from one to the other. DH missed the towering atrium that is attributed to Carnival, but you aren’t going to find that anywhere else anyway.
Dining rooms are wonderful, the theming is second to none and I know you wouldn’t find that anywhere else.
Theaters are a little small and we didn’t really enjoy the “old timey” theater seats, especially DH who is 6’3! I very much prefer the wide benches and tables in the Carnival theaters.
Adult spaces were very nice and we spent almost every evening in them. I appreciate that they keep them adult only for sure. Love the concept for O’Gills, but it feels a little tired and in need of a refresh and Fathoms just needed to be larger! It was standing room only for a lot of adult activities. Piano bar was really pretty, but really smelled like smoke and we didn’t spend time here.
The adult pool was a great space and I could see us spending lots of time here on a warmer weather cruise. Hot tubs were way too small though! Cove Café was awesome, had great coffees and little appetizers. DH found out that you could get larger beers here for the same price as the smaller sizes offered everywhere else on the ship. It was like the Disney Beer mug deal without actually buying the deal. I think we were paying $6 for a 21 oz, where everywhere else it was $6 for a 16 oz. This was confirmed by the other couples we were with. (Just a helpful tip for any beer drinkers out there!) One downside, that I know I’m probably in the minority on, was that you couldn’t have drinks in the pool or hot tubs. Someone had a bottle of water on the side of the hot tub one day and were made to remove it. We do like to have a cocktail or other drink while we’re relaxing in the water on Carnival and I’ve never encountered anyone abusing it or anything, but again, I understand why Disney doesn’t allow it.
Service – Top notch, as expected. Amazing dining team and room steward and we did tip them extra at the end of the cruise. No complaints about the service whatsoever. I will say, however, we have never experienced bad service on any cruise line. We appreciate all the crew members no matter what line we sail.
Our Club Host, Tony, was awesome! So fun and we're glad we had him! The Cruise Director was Terry (maybe?) and he seemed nice, but you didn't see him around at all. It wasn't like Carnival where the Cruise Director is EVERYWHERE. I can see why the Club Host play a much bigger part in your cruise experience.
Other Passengers – We met some great people on this cruise. Our dining mates were great, as were the 2 other couples we actually met standing in line on embarkation day. We hung out with them almost every evening and actually spent a day in London with one couple after the cruise. Overall, everyone seemed generally nice, friendly, and happy to be there.
But there was one negative that I have to mention. When talking to someone, the topic of “is this your first cruise?” inevitably came up. And we would say well it’s our first
Disney cruise, but we do cruise pretty extensively. And I’m not kidding, 99% of the time, the response would be some variation of “Oh but this is much better, right?” or “You won’t go back to any other cruise lines after this, right? Nothing can come close to this!” And while I did just respond with “Well, we’re having a great time, but actually we really enjoy cruising other lines as well…” it got to the point where I wanted to yell “Stop looking down on us because we don’t exclusively cruise on Disney ships!” It happened enough where I got annoyed of having to defend our decision to cruise other lines. It’s never happened to us before. So, this may have been out of the ordinary, or because over 75% of the passengers were repeat Disney cruisers. Don’t know, but it did rub us the wrong way.
Overall – We had a wonderful time. We met some great people, ate great food, and made great memories. The ports were the selling point of this cruise and that’s the main reason why we chose it. Again, the ship itself was secondary. I would book this itinerary again if it was longer. We just needed some more time! Looking at the British Isles itinerary for 2020, I see it’s still 7 days, but they added another port. While it still looks fun, we (and the couples we were with) thought that it was too many ports crammed into too many days. This cruise would be best as a 9 or 10 day.
DH & I both determined that while we had a wonderful time, DCL is probably not our first choice for sailing the Bahamas or Caribbean. And that’s fine. However, for a “specialty” cruise like Europe or the Mediterranean or even Alaska? I would consider DCL for sure. But we cannot justify the price for what we are looking for in our “normal” cruise experience. We like beverage packages and adult comedians and anytime dining and late-night entertainment and bars that are open past midnight. While DCL doesn’t offer that for us, they offer a lot to people who are looking for a great Disney/Family focused experience. We love Disney World, so that’s where our Disney dollars will be spent in the future (planning a trip for Fall 2020!) But no cruise line is better than another. All that matters is the cruise that’s right for YOU.
I think that about covers it! If you have any questions, please please please ask!
), his reviews are a fun read and give you lots of info about the ship and it's activities. There are also some great reviews by a poster named BirdTravels of many NCL ships.
) but it is something to consider.
