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Just back from the Western Magic


jenrn1

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I am going to start this thread with a bit of a "disclaimer". I know there are MANY huge DCL fans out there, so please do not take this posting as a personal afront. With that said, on with the post! :)

 

We just returned home last evening from the Western itinerary on the Magic. We had a great time, but I have to admit, it wasn't all that Magical. We have been on four other Disney cruises and we have noticed that each time the service lessens a bit. For instance, our very first cruise with them 5 years ago, you were literally doted upon. Especially your dining room servers. This past trip, along with the couple before it, everything is very rushed and less personal than it has been. The wait staff seemed chaotic at best. Although our server was wonderful (Noemi from Hungary) our assistant server lacked any personality. You literally had to pull words from him and his service was shoddy. You had to ask him repeatedly just to bring water to the table when you sat down after waiting for it for at least ten minutes. You were never even offered coffee with desert. Disney has staggered their seating times, but I don't think this has helped much. Although, in their defense, I'm sure people aren't adhering to them as they should. Another disappointment regarding dinner, is where has decorum gone? There was a family sitting next to us who wore their baseball caps every night and the father even wore a shirt that said "Jesus loves you--- too bad the rest of us think you are an a--hole" and on another night wore one that said "How about a nice cup of shut the hell up". I'm all for casual, but come on. We are not at McDonalds here folks. I think since Disney costs so much, you shouldn't have to deal with that, and I think they need to start addressing their dress policies for dinner. I have noticed that over the past few cruises with them, people show up in whatever they want.

 

The food was very good, but not outstanding. It used to rival all of the other lines, but now I think is just about the same. Paolo is still the best by far though!

 

I liked the fact that they added on some outside entertainment. They had a comedian on board for the first few days of the cruise and he was great. They still put on good shows like Twice Charmed and Dreams, but they could benefit by adding on more adult entertainment (more comedy shows, etc.). Their family entertainment is still great, our kids loved and even got to participate in Who wants to be a Mousketeer and got a couple of prizes. Our kids are 7 and 9 and say that they had a good time, but it's getting a little to "little kid-ish" for them. We did RCCL and they said they would rather do that one again over Disney.

 

Overall, we did have a great time, but with our family, we have fun no matter what we are doing or where we are. The people on board are still very friendly but I can't say that they are setting the industry standard any more, especially for the price you are paying.

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Thank you for posting your honest impressions on how you feel DCL is performing. I don't think anyone should take offense to your post because it was not written in a harsh manner - just merely expressing what others have said.

 

We went on our first cruise last Dec and are booked for this Nov and Dec 2007. We were very fortunate to have great servers (in my opinion) but our travel companions had noted a decline in the Disney service. This was our first vacation so I had nothing to compare it with. We're taking the kids for the first time this fall and I am anxious to see their reaction since they range from age 27 to 7 and to see for myself how the service compares.

 

I am one that agrees with you on the dress code - why have one if you are not going to enforce it? Although in our near vicinity all seemed to follow the guidelines I have read postings from others on my same cruise that had experiences similar to yours.

 

Being that you have gone on other DCL cruises, I am curious if you have gone on the Eastern 7 nt. and your impressions of the ports of call since that is where we will be for our honeymoon trip in Nov 07.

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Our first cruise ever was the West Coast Magic. After reading the Disboards for a year I had great expectations and was kind of dissappointed. The service was good, but not exceptional like everyone was posting. I had nothing to compare it with though.

 

This Feb we went on Carnival Pride and our service was better. We loved the DCL cruise, but for the price you pay, I'd rather be able to do 2 Carnival Cruises. We are going DCL again next year for our 25th anniv. so we can experience Castaway Cay and WDW. (never been). I hope it's as good as everyone says, but I am not getting my expectations up. I plan to enjoy it no matter what! It will probably be our last cruise on DCL.

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We are going DCL again next year for our 25th anniv. so we can experience Castaway Cay and WDW. (never been). I hope it's as good as everyone says, but I am not getting my expectations up. I plan to enjoy it no matter what! It will probably be our last cruise on DCL.

 

I had read such wonderful things about Castaway Cay before going in December 2005. The island was really beautiful and really nice, but it wasn't the "over the top WOW" that I had read about - but perhaps that is because for reference, we have an island near where we live that we frequent and love. Definitely a "contrived" place, but the water is beautiful and there were plenty of things to do for the day. And it was nice that is was just the DCL people there and not other ships -- at the other ports there were two or three other ships in port at the same time so there were a bazillion people instead of a couple of thousand to wade through.

 

And then again, I had read such fabulous things about the show at Animator's Palate... and I was, well, not disappointed, but felt like it wasn't what I had been led to believe. It was a nice show, but maybe because we were seated back in a corner, we couldn't really experience it. We were at table #3.

 

But all that said, we truly enjoyed our first cruise and agreed that traveling by cruiseline is how we want to travel for a while.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Cindy D.

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And then again, I had read such fabulous things about the show at Animator's Palate... and I was, well, not disappointed, but felt like it wasn't what I had been led to believe. It was a nice show, but maybe because we were seated back in a corner, we couldn't really experience it.

 

Same here..wasn't what I thought it would be like at all!

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I would have to agree, returned from the Magic two months ago and the service was rushed, had difficulty understanding servers ( soft spoken with strong accent) I had tried not to have my hopes too high after all I would hear from the boards, hoping the next one in 2007 while be different!:confused: www.cruisecrates.com

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