Why Disney Doesn't Want Real Reporters ...

devoy1701

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
mickeymatt said:
I see your point and accept your first hand experience. Even Lou Mongello on his podcast said they were still working out some kinks on that cruise. So I retract my criticism of him being nit-picky. Just not a big fan of critics.
My question is, as a first-timer, would I be disappointed with my cruise experience aboard the dream?

Lou's Review for those who are interested:
http://www.wdwradio.com/2011/01/disney-dream-review-show-207-january-30-2011/
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I think it depends on when you're sailing. Alot of the "nit-picking" this gentleman did was service based, and he seemed to find Castaway Cay a disappointment because of the weather. Once the crew gets accustomed to the ship and if you have great weather, I doubt you will be disappointed. :wave:
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
mickeymatt said:
I see your point and accept your first hand experience. Even Lou Mongello on his podcast said they were still working out some kinks on that cruise. So I retract my criticism of him being nit-picky. Just not a big fan of critics.
My question is, as a first-timer, would I be disappointed with my cruise experience aboard the dream?

Lou's Review for those who are interested:
http://www.wdwradio.com/2011/01/disney-dream-review-show-207-january-30-2011/
Click to expand...
If it was my first time on a cruise I probably would have been a little upset about the way dinner service went. The first night was just awful. It took forever to get anything, even drinks. It really just seemed like our waiters had never waited on tables before. However, the head waiter saw the problem and talked to us about it before we even said anything about it. It got progressively better as the cruise went on, and like I said before is was not like our servers were rude, they were as nice as 2 people could be, they were just greenhorns.

One thing to remember is that were on the ships 4th or 5th cruise this ship had ever taken. It was a shakedown cruise and I fully expected hiccups. Most of these reports coming out were of cruises taken shortly after the one I took. The same kind of issues happened when Disney first launched the Magic and Wonder. If I am not mistaken they actually ran out of alcohol on the first Disney cruise. If these problems still exist in 6 months then Disney has a problem. IMHO the Dream will be running like a finely tuned race car by the end of March.
 
Brian_WDW74

Brian_WDW74

Member
mickeymatt said:
My question is, as a first-timer, would I be disappointed with my cruise experience aboard the dream?
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My first cruise was on the Dream and I wasn't disappointed. But I did experience some of the problems that other people have reported.

Master Yoda said:
If it was my first time on a cruise I probably would have been a little upset about the way dinner service went. The first night was just awful. It took forever to get anything, even drinks. It really just seemed like our waiters had never waited on tables before. However, the head waiter saw the problem and talked to us about it before we even said anything about it. It got progressively better as the cruise went on, and like I said before is was not like our servers were rude, they were as nice as 2 people could be, they were just greenhorns.
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Was your first dinner in Animator's Palate? We had the 8:30 seating and our service was so slow that we had to order our desserts to go so we wouldn't miss the fireworks. Fortunately, my first night was in the Royal Palace and the service there was fantastic. If I had experienced Animator's Palate first, my whole opinion of the dinner service aboard the Dream would probably be much lower. I did try to cut them some slack, though, because I sailed on the Boy's and Girl's Club cruise and I expected them to still be working out the kinks.

As for Brady MacDonald's review, I thought it was mostly spot on. But I enjoyed Castaway Cay and the Golden Mickeys a bit more than he did. And he really should have given Cabana's a chance. The breakfast buffet was delicious.
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
mickeymatt said:
I love it.
"The food and service were hit or miss, and at times, the pampering didn’t live up to the top-dollar price tag. But all in all, we had a great time."

If this is his first cruise what has he to compare it to? Bottom line, they had a great time. I'd rather get the review from his kids. I have never been on a cruise either but I can assure you that when I do it will be Disney and I won't be that nit-picky!
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As well as these


Dislikes

-- The endless incidentals costs on what was billed as an all-inclusive cruise.

-- The much-too-small stateroom, which nonetheless seemed to grow larger as the days passed.



DCL has staterooms that are LARGER than most other ships. DCL also includes more with the price than many other cruise lines.

I am not saying DCL is perfect, but he needs to seperate his report into impressions that are DLC in specific and others that are cruises in general.

-dave
 
WDWFigment

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
jt04 said:
Perhaps they feared you would come dressed as a character from the AC and then fling yourself into one of the smokestacks while yelling, "Death to Hyperion Wharf", or something. :shrug:

Oh, and I know the OP thinks everything he says is news but isn't this a 'general discussion' topic? :veryconfu

I am not keen on the walmarting of the 'news and rumors' forum.
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I'm not the biggest jt04 fan in the world, but I've got to give props where props are due, and this was one 'wicked burn.'
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Brian_WDW74 said:
Was your first dinner in Animator's Palate? We had the 8:30 seating and our service was so slow that we had to order our desserts to go so we wouldn't miss the fireworks. Fortunately, my first night was in the Royal Palace and the service there was fantastic. If I had experienced Animator's Palate first, my whole opinion of the dinner service aboard the Dream would probably be much lower. I did try to cut them some slack, though, because I sailed on the Boy's and Girl's Club cruise and I expected them to still be working out the kinks.

As for Brady MacDonald's review, I thought it was mostly spot on. But I enjoyed Castaway Cay and the Golden Mickeys a bit more than he did. And he really should have given Cabana's a chance. The breakfast buffet was delicious.
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Yes it was. Like I had said if you looked you could tell the guys were struggling. We were not sure if it was just them, the procedures or both but they were so nice and obviously trying so hard that I could really not get all that upset at them. Because of that we looked the other way a good bit. We still had a great time.
 
Buried20KLeague

Buried20KLeague

Well-Known Member
mickeymatt said:
My question is, as a first-timer, would I be disappointed with my cruise experience aboard the dream?
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While I can't answer your question directly as I haven't been on the new ship... I would offer one piece of advice:

Don't blindly make Disney your first cruise. Do your homework. Find the line that offers what you're looking for in a cruise the best. Because the Disney ships are DEFINITELY a "horse of a different color" than most other ships. We've been on multiple cruises on multiple lines (Disney, Carnival, Royal Carib), and while Disney's prices are highest, we'd class them as the least impressive of the three.

And the biggest (and most shocking) area we felt they were sorely lacking in??? KIDS PROGRAMS. Believe it or not.

Our kids thought there was much more to do and much better programs on both the Carnival and Royal ships.

On top of that, the Disney ships tend to shut down pretty early at night. There just wasn't much going on after 10, when the Carnival and Royal ships were busy much later.

And obviously there was much more for the adult crowd on the Carnival and Royal ships, as well. Casinos, clubs, etc...

Part of these issues might be due to the size of the initial Disney ships being quite a bit smaller... I'm not sure. So maybe a little of this has been fixed with the larger ship? Someone else would have to speak to that.

But for our money, having been on all lines more than once, Disney would be our last choice to take again based on offerings and the high pricetag.
 
Lee

Lee

Adventurer
Buried20KLeague said:
But for our money, having been on all lines more than once, Disney would be our last choice to take again based on offerings and the high pricetag.
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I somewhat agree.
I enjoy the Disney ships, and do plan to sail on the Dream once they get some better itineraries.
Sailed on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas last summer....best cruise I've been on, Disney included.
 
M

MickeyPeace

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Oh, absolutely.

And while Brady had many complaints, he did overall appear to enjoy the cruise (although it, at times, was hard to tell). That said, you can bet that The Weatherman, Tom Staggs and JR (who would read the Times daily) were not likely fans of his review.

I have been trying to figure out Disney's strategy in kissing up to online whores because they are preaching to the choir. You don't grow a business that way. You already own that segment of the market. You grow a business (and by more than doubling capacity in a two-year period, that also happens to be a time of great economic trouble, the need is ever more present) by getting folks who would never cruise before and/or cruise with Mickey.

That's why I couldn't quite fathom all the fanboi bloggers living in Mom's basement (no, not our beloved Mom here) or soccer moms from Ohio with blogs that get 116 hits a week or bored housewives that take pics of planters and walls and post them on 786 different Disney sites (that are all viewed by the same folks) who made up a large portion of the Dream christening/'media' cruise.
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LOL. True. And if you read different Disney blogs by these bloggers, they are all the same review with the same pictures.

I think Disney is catering to them because of the follower mentality. Once a certain blogger says that something is awesome and that everyone should love this something, then those followers are more likely to come up with and part with their money on that something.

Yes Disney is preaching to the choir by inviting these Ohio soccer moms (many who have moved to Orlando) and Mom's basement dudes, but they can easily influence their followers to spend.

Dole Whip Sally who hears about the Disney Dream but hasn't been on a cruise and probably won't open her Dooney and Burke bag for a cruise soon hears Peter Podcast Pan talk about every detail of the Disney Dream incessantly and soon Dole Whip Sally is following Peter Podcast Pan onto the Dream as if he were the Pied Piper.

So there is that segment who is ready to spend even more of their income on Disney but will be more likely do something if everyone else is doing it. Disney is advertising their new product but certain bloggers are "selling the Dream".

Pardon the pun.
 
puntagordabob

puntagordabob

Well-Known Member
hrcollectibles said:
And yet here we are on a Disney Message board where there is nit picking and whining almost everyday.
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To me....I think of whiners as someone who complains just to complain.. the other side of the equation are those who complain because they genuinely care about something and want to see whatever that is to improve/change. Which group are you (the current reader) is up to you to determine....I am a member of the later personally.

Lee said:
A legitimate concern...:cool:
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haha I bet you would have been on the news too :) Man chains self to ship as portest! :)


I have not perosnally taken a cruise in my 43 years of live thus far....My wife has not either....but I think she wants to so I suppose it is in my future. Will we pick a Disney Cruise? Maybe...Maybe not... Personally, I wonder of I would be bored out of my skull on a slow moving ship! :) If given the choice between traveling to Europe or Asia (yeah Id force a Paris Disney or Tokyo Disney stop on either hehe) or to go on a cruise I can say with certainty that the cruise would not be my choice...nor do I believe it would be my DW's either.
 
sweetpee_1993

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
KevinYee said:
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread (though I'm sure Spirit will forgive me). A friend on twitter forwarded this to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX_5BK36wkw&feature=youtu.be

Duncan Wardle pretty much admits the whole past few years have been all about finding new folks who love the brand to drown out those who have criticisms.
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Without watching the link (don't want to slow down my iPhone update that's downloading) I find the above statement kinda strange. We're grossly outnumbered by the non-fans & haters in DH's family. Admittedly, my family has a good number of Disney fans but we're still outnumbered by those that are indifferent or non-fans. Fans come to fan sites and seek the blogs. I can't imagine the Average-Joe would expended much energy seeking the opinions & experiences of the Disney-philes. If anything, I've often thought that if average folks read some of this stuff they'll think we're a bunch of nutters.

I had read the article that started this thread. Our Dream cruise in September was our first ever and the experiences that writer had certainly were a loooong way from what we found. :wave:
 

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