swales

If your Disney experience was from 2007 or 2008, I would agree with this. Unfortunately, the worst customer service we've ever experienced in more than 50 cruises was on the Disney Magic this May. Orders of magnitude below what we were used to in our previous eight Disney cruises. Other than Guest Services, everyone else seemed to be in a deep funk all week. On the promenade deck, there were only 8 deck chairs and 5 of them were broken, and when we pointed that out at GS, the five broken chairs were just moved from the port side of the ship to the starboard side of the ship. I guess they figured we wouldn't find them over there:confused:

Nope, last Disney Cruise was last summer on the Magic and not a single problem, unlike the last 2 cruises on RCCL

Hopefully you get a good waiter otherwise it's going to become a pain. My wife is deadly allergic to shellfish and on our last cruise we gave the advance notice and told the head waiter yet when our waiter came around he had no idea. He also seemed to hit reset at the end of every day as each evening he had to be reminded of the allergy, he even once brought us a special dish from the kitchen that he said was vegetarian and hidden in the sauce was shrimp. The kitchen is all set-up for preparing the allergy meals but at the end of the day it all comes down to the waiters competence.

When it comes to service there's no comparison, Disney is far superior to RCCL. I've done numerous cruises on both and just did 14 days on RCCL and the employees on RCCL just seem miserable. I know they don't have dream jobs but you're in a customer service industry so just try smiling for once. The customer service desk were the worst for not smiling and not helping...lol Of course there are exceptions and some RCCL staff go out of their way for you but there were far more that won't. On Disney I've never encountered one employee that I seemed to be bothering if I had a question or request (maybe I've just been lucky). Yes the cost is more but my family just prefers the Disney quality and service over RCCL.

Saw several people using them on the Adventure this month but if you do use them, please turn the volume down! LOL For some reason the people using them felt the need to have the volume at max which is rather annoying

Just did B2B in the Caribbean and the weather wasn't a problem as I'm used to hot and humid summer months but at least the islands had sea breezes and beaches. The great thing about the summer trips is we were always the only ship docked at port so none of the beaches or attractions were crazy packed with tourists. I've done several trips when kids were out of school and sure it gets a little noisier but never really had any problems until this last cruise as I have never experienced these quincinera girls before. WOW the group of quincinera girls on the ship were out of control, they never had curfews, they were extremely rude and disrespectful and I hope I never have to be on a cruise with a group like that again. Unless something changes and RCCL does something about it (which of course they won't) I'll sail on Disney during the summer as maybe it's the higher price point but I've never seen the big groups of 15 yr old girls on them before (hopefully that hasn't changed)

Probably not as many on a 7-night cruise as there are on the 3 and 4 nighters. Typically, these tours are a combo of a shorter cruise and Disneyworld. Last July, there were ~300 getting off of the 4 night enchantment while ~300 more were getting on with us for the 3 night. The ones on our cruise had just come from Disneyworld, and the ones getting of were going there next.

 

It must be a big revenue generator for RCL, because they have an entire page of quinceanera merchandise on their gifts page.

 

We will be back on Enchantment again this Friday, and I thoroughly expect to see another mob on board.

I did a 7 day Caribbean on Adventure in June and the ship was completely full of them and like others have said they were the rudest, most disrespectful teens I've ever come across.

Also wondering if you knew of anyone doing a B2B on Adventure. Just trying to determine if we have to get off or not, I have heard different ways different ships handle people doing B2B and just wondering how Adventure handles it.

 

Some folks say you get off but get right back on (to get a new card) and some people say they just met in a certain location on the ship and were given new cards for the second week.

 

No big deal either way, just curious. Thanks.

I just did a B2B on the Adventure and first off they don't take your passports, that's just Europe.

Secondly, we stayed on the ship after leg 1. We had to meet at one of the lounges at 11:15 so we relaxed in the pool all morning while everyone else waiting to get off and then proceeded to the designated lounge. They gave us new cards, checked us "out" and then back "on" while we waited for customs. Customs came on board and checked our documentation and we were then off to a B2B only lunch in the dinning room.

Great to hear that your kids had such a good time at Coki beach. We are thinking of doing the same (with Coral World). What is the expected taxi fare? Think it's about $9 or $10 per person? (which is still pricey when you have 4 and need to get there and back)

They started by quoting $12 each and there was 9 of us so no way we were doing that. We walked a short distance away from the terminal and was able to negotiate $6 each and the kids for free. We were happy with that deal but did find out others were able to get $5 and $4 each on fares. Of all the islands we visited, St Thomas had the most expensive taxi fares as we easily got $2 or $3 each with kids free at our other stops.

Just got back from St Thomas with my 3 and 5 yr olds and they absolutely loved Coki beach. The beach wasn't very crowded, had no drop offs and they loved that they could easily see fish while swimming/snorkling. I would definitely re-visit Coki beach. The only downside was the taxi drivers at port, of the 10 islands I visited, St Thomas had the worst ones for trying to rip you off on the fares.