Goodbye WDW, Hello DCL

[Tommye1078]

My family and I just returned from a land and sea trip. We did 4 nights on the Magic and 4 nights at POR.

A brief background...

Our last trip to WDW left a lot to be desired for me. I felt the service was not the same. While I do frequently read this forums I do not consider myself one of the negative personalities. I was just shocked at the low level of service.

This recent trip we just returned from was supposed to be a 7 night POR trip. about 5 days before we were scheduled to depart I checked the DCL website and they had a great last minute deal on a 4 night Magic cruise. We changed our itinerary and couldn't be more excited.

First up (first 4 days of our vacation): The Cruise

All I have to say is wow. DCL gets it. They completely take care of their guests. You don't have to go asking for service. Like the little things I watched multiple cast members carry trays for guests who for some reason or another were struggling to do so. They jump into action immediately.

DCL has captured my "Disney Side"(LOL).

Second (last 4 days):

My family and I normally go to WDW 2 times a year and have decided that we will not be going back for sometime. Our experience with fast pass +, food quality (except for sleepy hallow and flame tree BBQ), cast member service, rude guests ect have made us come to the conclusion that we would rather give our money to DCL than WDW. I will not be going into details about specific occurrences at WDW because I feel it will take away from what I want to be a positive post about DCL.

Please don't read this as a negative review it is a glowing recommendation of DCL and the cast members aboard that ship. The Chef at Palo was amazing, they found out I was also a Chef. He sent my wife and I a bunch of courses to try. If that wasn't enough he had special desserts made and delivered to our room for our kids then to go even further on the night before we departed he had a Magical Memory sent to our room for being a Magical family. That is a level of service and deep understanding of guests that very few companies achieve.

Looks like we will be heading out on the Fantasy Nov 29 for a 7 night cruise who's with me?

I cannot recommend DCL enough.

P.S. I get sea sick just looking at the water. My doctor prescribed me the patch. I decided to not use it and see how it went. While I did feel the boat move a few times I never got sick at all.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

It sounds like DCL really made your vacation special! I love Palo and the service and the food there are phenomenal!

Pam

 

[loveofamouse]

We are getting ready to DCL for the first time. I'm hoping to have a great time and be impressed! Sucks that you had a bad time at WDW, but, honestly, I understand. My last few trips to the parks weren't the best as they have been

 

[Tommye1078]

We are getting ready to DCL for the first time. I'm hoping to have a great time and be impressed! Sucks that you had a bad time at WDW, but, honestly, I understand. My last few trips to the parks weren't the best as they have been

You will love your maidan voyage. Some of the characters actually just strolled up and started playing with my kids, right out of the blue. There are also lines to meet characters but are rather short. My daughter was dying to meet rupenzel we showed up 5 minutes early and were 3rd in line. Hopefully they will bring Anna and Elsa to the cruise because I wasn't willing to wait 5 hours so my daughter could meet them at WDW. I'm not kidding the line was five hours the day we went and ate in Norway.

 

[Andrew C]

I have my second land and sea trip booked in April. I love WDW, but it is definitely true that DCL gets it. You are not the first person to say this and won't be the last. I don't get why WDW doesn't look at what DCL is doing when it comes to service.

You definitely need to do the 7 night cruise on the Fantasy in November. We were lucky enough cruise on the Fantasy during the inaugural sailings in 2012. It is an amazing ship. (see profile picture, haha)

 

[Tommye1078]

I have my second land and sea trip booked in April.

Have a great trip Andrew. I have been to WDW 35 times for a week or longer. You know the drill you start planning your trip while your on the current one, FP+ was really a fail for my family it only created one more level of stress. I have always harped on my wife that she stares at her phone to much on vacation now she has to. I love tech but love to turn it off on vacation. WDW made that very difficult with FP+.

Once again have a great trip.

 

[disney4life2008]

I think a good generalization can be made - DCL is what WDW used to be. Without going into a sociological discussion about SES and personal backgrounds - DCL is still premium and ranked amongst other premium cruiselines. WDW can not be compared to US or Great America (or Carnival cruise for the matter); however, I agree 100% that the quality in service and guest attention has decreased. I have mentioned in other posts that what I loved about WDW especially in the 90s was that it was a premium destination. Only those with money could afford or want to go - and we were really a small group. Today, WDW is just a mess between the tour groups; FP+, MM+, its a lot going on to make a quick buck but they are decreasing entertainment and service everywhere.

Using myself as an example, DCL is a premium that I can not even afford (I travel solo). But it will happen one day soon I hope.

 

[durangojim]

I think a good generalization can be made - DCL is what WDW used to be. Without going into a sociological discussion about SES and personal backgrounds - DCL is still premium and ranked amongst other premium cruiselines. WDW can not be compared to US or Great America (or Carnival cruise for the matter); however, I agree 100% that the quality in service and guest attention has decreased. I have mentioned in other posts that what I loved about WDW especially in the 90s was that it was a premium destination. Only those with money could afford or want to go - and we were really a small group. Today, WDW is just a mess between the tour groups; FP+, MM+, its a lot going on to make a quick buck but they are decreasing entertainment and service everywhere.

Using myself as an example, DCL is a premium that I can not even afford (I travel solo). But it will happen one day soon I hope.

Agree with what you said. After our first DCL cruise in 2012, my wife and I made the exact comment that DCL is what it used to be like staying at the GF 15 years ago. We still love WDW, but have been devoting more of our vacation time and money to DCL at WDW's loss.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I am with you 100%!! After our WDWMagic girls cruise in September, I was hooked. We had re-booked while on-board for November 2014 but we decided once we returned home, we couldn't wait that long. We found a great deal for a 4 night on the Dream for February 2-6 so we booked it! Just got home last night! You are absolutely 100% right about the CMs being head and shoulders above WDW. We had some wonderful experiences this cruise, even better than in September, but I think that might have been because we felt more comfortable. Here are just a few of the great experiences we had:

-Our assistant waiter in September was Piti and he was in our same rotation this trip, but was not our assistant server this time. However, he saw us and came over to us and said "we have met before, yes?" and we told him he had been with us for the cruise in September. He remembered we were there with a large group of ladies. Every time he saw us going forward, he always waved and smiled and came over and asked us how we were. He even took my sisters plate for her when she was done and he wasn't even our server! lol. Yesterday morning at breakfast he came over with 3 little stuffed elephant keychains and presented them to my sister, my mother and myself. He told us that elephants were a symbol of power and strength where he was from and he wanted us to have them. I seriously teared up at how thoughtful this was. These cast members see soooo many people every day and the fact he remembered us and gave us this gift was amazing.

-We went to book a mixology class at Guest Services the first night of the cruise. Guillaume booked the class for us and he was so super friendly. The mixology was the second day, our Nassau day. We were the only 3 people in the class. Alenka was the bartender and she was awesome! After we were done the class, we actually sat there and chatted with her for awhile about how she liked being on the ship and other random things that had nothing to do with mixology. We saw her later in the cruise and she immediately stopped to say hello to us and ask us how our day was. We also stopped by Guest Services the day after the mixology and it wasn't very busy. Guillaume came right over and asked us how the class was, what drinks we made and was joking around, asking if we saved a drink for him. Again, I'm sure he sees so many people a day and deals with so many different things, the fact that he remembered us and what we booked was really cool.

-This next experience is probably my favorite of all, not because there is some sentimental, touching moment that happened, but rather because it shows the friendships you can form on a Disney cruise... Now, let me preface this by saying, we're not like most families who travel on the Dream. Our traveling party consists of my mother, my sister (she is 28)
and myself (who just turned 31) We're not the "typical" family that boards these ships so we're never very surprised when we receive any added male attention. With the amount of families they see, I'm sure 2 decent looking twenty-something ladies are a breath of fresh air at times! (Heck, I know if I worked with families all day, 2 decent looking twenty something males would be heaven for me!! haha) We went to Royal Palace for breakfast on our Castaway Cay day. It was very nice and breakfast was fine. We returned the next morning and were led to our table. His name was Yekta and after he briefly explained everything, he asked us "3 mimosas like yesterday?" The three of us looked at each other very puzzled like, he wasn't our server, how did he know what we ordered? I asked him how he knew what we had ordered, but he just smiled and walked away. As he brought back the mimosa's, he told us he saw us at breakfast the previous day and remembered we had mimosas. He then said something along the lines of "I never forget the beauties." At first I was kind of like ewww, what a creeper! haha! He left for a few minutes to bring a bag left by another guest to Guest Services. When he passed by the window we were seated next to, he looked in and waved at us. All three of us were like wow this guy is super weird!! He was a great server though, very attentive. We talked to him quite a bit throughout the meal and he overheard us saying we hadn't had lunch in RP so we would probably be back for lunch and he told us to ask for him. He even covered up his name tag and made Ashley spell his name so we would remember it. We shook his hand and he told us he would have the champagne ready lol. At that point I was like, ok, he seems nice, he's probably just friendly and flirty with all the ladies! Later on when we came back for lunch, we asked the guy at the podium if we could have Yekta as our waiter and he went to check cause he thought his section was full. About a minute later Yekta comes strolling over and said "who's asking for me?!" he saw us, grinned and led us over to our table himself. I tried to pull my chair out to sit down and he told me not to and after he finished pushing my sister's chair in, he came over and pulled the chairs out for me and my mother. He spent more time chatting with us this time as it wasn't very busy. He called my mother the queen and called us the princesses. We told him we had rebooked on the Dream for a back to back in November. He told us we would have to stay in touch so we exchanged Facebook info and email addresses so we could talk and he could keep us updated on his time off. He is leaving for vacation for 8 weeks next month and their contracts very but he said he would try and extend his contract to make sure he is there in November. We actually stayed there talking with him and another server Sebastian for awhile. Come to find out, Sebastian lived in the same city we live in a few years back! We also spoke with the Head Server who was named Pascal. Come to find out, he too lived in Portland and actually managed a restaurant about a mile from my house! He knew a couple of the same people we knew who worked there, too. It's a small world after all..... lol anyway, we weren't in the same dining rotation as Yekta and Sebastian but Yekta told us to come say bye in the morning before we left the ship. We told him we would and we continued on our day. We had a pretty tight schedule on debarkation day but we had some time after breakfast so we decided to stop into RP and say goodbye. Pascal was there and greeted us again and wished us well on our trip home. We spotted Yekta but we didn't know if he would be busy so we were just going to wave. When he saw us, he made a sad face and told us to hang on a minute while his table finished up. He came over and said "I didn't think you were really going to come! I thought 'oh they said they will but they won't'" He asked us about our plans for the day and asked us if we wanted to hang around in Port Canaveral with him cause he was getting off the ship for awhile. If we hadn't had a flight at 12:30, we probably would have. He brought my sister and I over to say bye to Sebastian and we told them we would see them in November. I figured we would shake hands like before and leave, but this time it was hugs all around! They told us to definitely keep in touch. We are now Facebook friends and I chatted online with both of them a bit yesterday while they were off the boat. Even though Yekta was only our server for 2 meals (and Sebastian for none! He just came over to talk to us! lol) we have established a fun friendship, even if we only see each other on cruises and on Facebook! Yekta definitely made our cruise that much more fun!

There were several other really awesome CM encounters but those stick out most in my mind. DCL CMs are the BEST! They are what WDW CMs used to be! Don't get me wrong, there are many great CMs at WDW, but most of them are college program kids and there is a high turnover as each CP session changes over. Also, I think some CP kids just want Disney on their resume after college so I just don't think some take it as seriously as those who really just LOVE Disney!

 

[Bolna]

@derelicte19 I loved your story! And I think it shows something that I noted, too. That the friendliness is not just the one that is "bought" with tips. Of course your assigned servers are going to be nice, they need to work for their tips. But just as you I had so many wonderful encounters with CM who were not in a position where they would get a tip from me. It seems just to be the DCL culture. It far surpasses any friendliness I ever encountered at any visit to WDW, DL or DLP.

Can't wait for my next cruise!!

 

[EOD K9]

I will concur with everyone on here. I've been to many of TWDC properties over 30 total times and while I still enjoy them, DCL is the way to go. I'm taking a short trip to the World and hitting the parks for one day this year. The rest will be spent just enjoying the ambiance and being in the bubble. DCL has definitely spoiled us and on our next trip, we will be staying on property the night before however, we will be all about the cruise. Welcome to the Dark Side.

 

[Ralphlaw]

You will love your maidan voyage. Some of the characters actually just strolled up and started playing with my kids, right out of the blue. There are also lines to meet characters but are rather short. My daughter was dying to meet rupenzel we showed up 5 minutes early and were 3rd in line. Hopefully they will bring Anna and Elsa to the cruise because I wasn't willing to wait 5 hours so my daughter could meet them at WDW. I'm not kidding the line was five hours the day we went and ate in Norway.

Anna was recently on the Dream, but not Elsa--yet. Given her magical volatility, it might not be safe to have her on board.

 

[Jonathan Dalecki]

You are all my people! I mentioned this in another thread, but my wife and I were long term Disney Worlders (we actually met doing the College Program...totally different states and colleges coming together to find true love. We joke that Walt was the Fairy Godfather sprinkling our relationship with pixie dust. Anyway.) We vacationed at WDW every other year, and loved it. In 2011 we tried our first cruise...a short 3 nights on the Dream, to see if we liked it.

Holy Cow, did we ever! Since then, we've taken 4 more cruises: 4 night Magic Bahamas, 5 night Magic Canada (bring this itinerary back, Disney, kthxbye!), 4 night Dream Bahamas and just last month 7 night Fantasy eastern Caribbean. We've also been back to WDW twice. The difference is night and day. When I was a kid, WDW was a luxury...people saved for years to go, and it cost a chunk of change. And you got what you paid for. But as many have pointed out here, in a mad rush for dollars and the bottom line, Disney switched along the way to being something anyone could afford (while paradoxically the prices have gone up...but the value resorts make up some of the difference) And that brings in the people for whom Disney is just another vacation...a bigger Six Flags, maybe. Meanwhile some (not all) of the guest magic has, if not disappeared then dissipated.

Compare that to the ships...like the 7 night Fantasy we just did. Our server, Alvin, was the greatest we've EVER had. He knew the menu like a preacher knows the Bible. Everything he recommended was the best...by night 3, we didn't even look at the menu except to enjoy reading the descriptions. He'd come over, we'd hand him the menu and say "bring us whatever you want" And he would...sometimes multiple appetizers and always with an extra entree in the middle of the table, just because he wanted us to try all the best stuff. One night we left without ordering dessert, so we could go to Pirate Night...the next night he literally brought us every dessert on the menu.

TL, DR: The cruise ships are where Walt Disney's magic lives on. From embarkation to disembarkation, it's everything we could ever want from a vacation. I could fill 20 pages with stories from our trips. But yeah, the cruises are where it's at, 100%.

 

[tink66]

I couldn't agree more with your guys. I still love going to WDW but it is not at all like it use to be in the 90's!! I use to feel so special staying at the Yacht and Beach or Grand. Don't get me wrong I still enjoy it but the special touches seem to be gone. I am now a DCL fan!!! I have only been on the Dream (2 times) and absolutely LOVED both trips!!! (one was 3 nights one was for 4 nights) Looking forward to planning another trip soon maybe trying the Magic.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

I'll join in on this thread. I was a cast member 10 years ago and every trip to WDW becomes more and more disappointing for me. I'm irritated with the constant price hikes and no new stuff of substance. EPCOT and DHS need a complete overhaul more than AK needs Avatarland. FLE is nice, but I want more. MM+ has left a sour taste in my mouth.

That being said... I'm going to WDW with my girlfriends in October 2014 and after that - I don't know when I'll be back. Probably not until Avatarland is done. I'm going to focus on more bucket-list stuff which includes going to Europe and I'm debating on DCL or Adventures by Disney. I will be a solo traveler so I know it won't be cheap either way! Expect lots of questions from me about Med. cruises!

 

[EOD K9]

There should be ZERO debate on DCL. Go and enjoy.