Disney Dream?

[jplee3]

Hey all,

 

My buddy just went on what I believe was the 10-day Norway trip on the Dream (end of July) and ended up getting COVID from it 😞 That aside, he expressed his disappointment with the cruise in general - felt way too packed and crowded, the room he was in smelled, and the food wasn't very good either. And perhaps the most surprising thing, unless she was hiding, is that he never saw Elsa (this is very odd considering it was a cruise in Norway lol).

 

Anyway, all of this really came as a surprise to me, having been on 3x Disney Cruises and having a great time on all of them with little to no complaints. Of course, last time we went was 2019 pre-COVID so I wonder if there have been changes in the perception and expectations of what a cruise should/shouldn't be.

Also, I've only ever been on the Wonder and the Fantasy and those were all 7-day trips (and to Mexico or the Caribbean). My understanding is that the Fantasy and Dream are pretty similar though but I could be mistaken.

 

Was anyone else on this cruise and what were your experiences? I'm wondering if there's some disparity between certain ships and also perhaps the location of where they're sailing. I would have thought the cruises would be consistently excellent but apparently it's not the case. My friend has pretty high standards and I've always thought of DCL as being pretty top-notch (especially when it comes to food and entertainment for the kids) so am surprised that it didn't live up to his expectations.

Edited August 16, 2023 by jplee3

[CleverUserNameHere]

It's peak summer holidays and post-COVID revenge travel so pretty much all ships are sailing over 100% capacity, and this is especially true of child-focused Disney ships. Cruise ship capacities are based on double occupancy (2 people per cabin). You cram families of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) in half the cabins and all of the sudden you're sailing at 150% capacity.

 

As for the food, we have learned to temper our expectations on cruises in general. If you enjoy going to fine dining restaurants on land I would prepare to be disappointed by the included offerings. Not that the food isn't "good" because it definitely is, but Disney wasn't heads above the rest, more like on par. I would argue that most of the people sailing on Disney rave about the food selection just because perceptions of what "fancy" are differs for this crowd. If your idea of a fancy restaurant is Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden then the food on the ships will be on par with that. On our cruise on the Magic last year the food in the dining rooms was mostly good, but not great, and the food in the buffet was actually pretty sub par. 

 

The only cruise I've been on where the food actually lived up to the hype was Celebrity and that was in Aqua Class. 

 

All of that to say, we loved our Halloween Cruise on the Magic, so much more than the food contributed to our good time, that we are sailing in less than a month on the Wish for another Halloween Cruise.

[jplee3]

1 hour ago, CleverUserNameHere said:

It's peak summer holidays and post-COVID revenge travel so pretty much all ships are sailing over 100% capacity, and this is especially true of child-focused Disney ships. Cruise ship capacities are based on double occupancy (2 people per cabin). You cram families of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) in half the cabins and all of the sudden you're sailing at 150% capacity.

 

As for the food, we have learned to temper our expectations on cruises in general. If you enjoy going to fine dining restaurants on land I would prepare to be disappointed by the included offerings. Not that the food isn't "good" because it definitely is, but Disney wasn't heads above the rest, more like on par. I would argue that most of the people sailing on Disney rave about the food selection just because perceptions of what "fancy" are differs for this crowd. If your idea of a fancy restaurant is Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden then the food on the ships will be on par with that. On our cruise on the Magic last year the food in the dining rooms was mostly good, but not great, and the food in the buffet was actually pretty sub par. 

 

The only cruise I've been on where the food actually lived up to the hype was Celebrity and that was in Aqua Class. 

 

All of that to say, we loved our Halloween Cruise on the Magic, so much more than the food contributed to our good time, that we are sailing in less than a month on the Wish for another Halloween Cruise.

 

 

Thanks for the input. Very good point on the capacity. 

 

It's going to be interesting going next year (we have a 4-day planned on the Magic out of Miami). Last one we went on was the Fantasy out of Orlando (Eastern Carribbean IIRC) in 2019. Prior to that we went on a Royal Carribbean to Alaska and a couple more Disney Cruises (Wonder 2011 and Fantasy 2014). Overall, with the exception of RC (which was nothing memorable shipwise, especially in comparison with DCL) we always felt our DCL experiences were great. Maybe the novelty started wearing off but by the 3rd cruise? I feel like this may be one of those things where "the first time is always sweetest", as with many things in life. Particularly when it comes to food, for some reason you always remember the food being bigger and better the first time lol. I still remember lobster night on the first Disney Cruise and that was unforgettable, but maybe because I ate like 3x ginormous lobster tails🤣

 

That said, I think you're right as far as what one might consider fancy. While I don't consider Cheesecake & Olive Garden to be "fancy" by any means, I thought the DCL food in the MDRs for the most were much better than the aforementioned. I'd say probably closer to but still couple or few steps down from Ruth's Chris (we don't eat out all that often, so I can't think of the best land-based restaurant to compare them to hahaha). Given that, I at least have a baseline expectation since we've been on a few of these cruises. I was reading a one or two reviews here where the reviewer, who has been on many Disney Cruises as far back as 2010, had gone more recently in the past couple years and noted quality of food seemingly dropping post-COVID. 

 

Another point someone mentioned, regarding the Norway one my friend went on, is that they were very likely using European-branded/based food items in the kitchen, which may very well have had an impact on preference. I figure food & meat quality/standards and preferences between the US and EU will differ anywhere between slightly to widely hahaha

[CleverUserNameHere]

1 hour ago, jplee3 said:

I was reading a one or two reviews here where the reviewer, who has been on many Disney Cruises as far back as 2010, had gone more recently in the past couple years and noted quality of food seemingly dropping post-COVID. 

 

I think this must be a industry wide thing as well. I've watched many videos on RCL and they always say that the food in the MDR is significantly worse since they've changed the menus. I will say that we sailed with the Norwegian Joy in May 2022 and I was actually very impressed with the included food. So much so that I actually thought that it was on par if not better than the specialty restaurants. Maybe it's because most people get a few specialty meals included in the price of their cruise that they are actually not any different quality wise. The buffet spread was consistently good and they had a really nice "snack time" in the observation lounge that had a really nice selection.

 

Again, the food on Disney was not "bad" (except for Cabanas in my opinion) it just wasn't extra good or anything. Some of the things that I actually thought were amazing were some of the quick service options on the pool deck. They often had Asian rice or noodle bowls with a wide variety of toppings and shwarma served on pita bread that we went back to multiple times. I'm looking forward to the BBQ on the pool deck on the Wish!

[gometros]

On 8/16/2023 at 2:14 PM, jplee3 said:

Hey all,

 

My buddy just went on what I believe was the 10-day Norway trip on the Dream (end of July) and ended up getting COVID from it 😞 That aside, he expressed his disappointment with the cruise in general - felt way too packed and crowded, the room he was in smelled, and the food wasn't very good either. And perhaps the most surprising thing, unless she was hiding, is that he never saw Elsa (this is very odd considering it was a cruise in Norway lol).

 

Anyway, all of this really came as a surprise to me, having been on 3x Disney Cruises and having a great time on all of them with little to no complaints. Of course, last time we went was 2019 pre-COVID so I wonder if there have been changes in the perception and expectations of what a cruise should/shouldn't be.

Also, I've only ever been on the Wonder and the Fantasy and those were all 7-day trips (and to Mexico or the Caribbean). My understanding is that the Fantasy and Dream are pretty similar though but I could be mistaken.

 

Was anyone else on this cruise and what were your experiences? I'm wondering if there's some disparity between certain ships and also perhaps the location of where they're sailing. I would have thought the cruises would be consistently excellent but apparently it's not the case. My friend has pretty high standards and I've always thought of DCL as being pretty top-notch (especially when it comes to food and entertainment for the kids) so am surprised that it didn't live up to his expectations.

 

You are not your friend. You have different experiences and expectations. Since you've been on Disney cruises, trust your own experiences and leave it to that.

[PhillyTravelBug]

Very interesting to read. My mother turns 60 next year and mentioned wanting to go on a Disney cruise. I am pretty loyal to NCL and just got off the prima on a trip to Iceland/Norway (I think half the ship got covid on there too).  Anyways, we wanted to do a Europe trip and just came by to search some thoughts on the Disney Dream.  With paying this much for their sailings and seeing these reviews, is it really worth it?   It will be her birthday present and can't really seem to persuade her to sailing my usual line, so it will ultimately be up to her.

[Shmoo here]

34 minutes ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Very interesting to read. My mother turns 60 next year and mentioned wanting to go on a Disney cruise. I am pretty loyal to NCL and just got off the prima on a trip to Iceland/Norway (I think half the ship got covid on there too).  Anyways, we wanted to do a Europe trip and just came by to search some thoughts on the Disney Dream.  With paying this much for their sailings and seeing these reviews, is it really worth it?   It will be her birthday present and can't really seem to persuade her to sailing my usual line, so it will ultimately be up to her.

While DCL may, or may not, be the be all and end all for cruising, we love it.  For us the price is worth it, but we tend to compare cruises and cruise lines for comparable cruises and generally go with the best price for what we get.  Sometimes it's DCL, but not always.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Shmoo here

[bphman]

I found it interesting what someone said about the provisioning in different countries.  We once did a Med cruise and had a blast but the food seemed a little off especially the dairy.  We loved the ship so much that we sailed her again later that year in the Caribbean and it was a totally different dining experience.  One gets so used to the products at home that there is a noticeable difference when traveling, sometimes better, sometimes worse.  The produce in Europe was much better but the proteins in the U.S. were more to our liking.  Both trips were good but totally different as th the food.

[bcwife76]

We were on the Dream last month, 11 night Northern Europe from Copenhagen to Southampton. This was our 11th Disney cruise and we had a fantastic time. The food, for the most part, was very good (with some exceptions), the 'free' ice cream was SO MUCH BETTER than the stuff they serve on the ship in North America. The quality of the produce was definitely better too. The ship was quite full, about 85% capacity. Travelled with my family of 4, none of us got Covid. Just giving another perspective 😉

[Essex_uk]

Ive been looking to take the family (6 adults & 4 children) away on a cruise for a while and seriously considered a 4 day Disney cruise from Southampton in the summer of '24, but after reading the reviews I'm seriously put off. I could spend the same amount for a 10 day Celebrity cruise.

What family activities are there on board?, We dont want to stick the kids in a kids club all day long, we want to do things togather. It would be good to hear what other UK Disney cruisers say.

[PhillyTravelBug]

6 hours ago, Essex_uk said:

Ive been looking to take the family (6 adults & 4 children) away on a cruise for a while and seriously considered a 4 day Disney cruise from Southampton in the summer of '24, but after reading the reviews I'm seriously put off. I could spend the same amount for a 10 day Celebrity cruise.

What family activities are there on board?, We dont want to stick the kids in a kids club all day long, we want to do things togather. It would be good to hear what other UK Disney cruisers say.

Certainly is insane. We just did a 10 day NCL cruise from Iceland and with three extra days and this 7 day Disney cruise from Southampton will definitely cost more. It will be a fabulous trip. I just have to appreciate the time spent with my mom for a milestone birthday . Life is short.

[Essex_uk]

On 9/11/2023 at 2:43 PM, Essex_uk said:

Ive been looking to take the family (6 adults & 4 children) away on a cruise for a while and seriously considered a 4 day Disney cruise from Southampton in the summer of '24, but after reading the reviews I'm seriously put off. I could spend the same amount for a 10 day Celebrity cruise.

What family activities are there on board?, We dont want to stick the kids in a kids club all day long, we want to do things togather. It would be good to hear what other UK Disney cruisers say.

Not going to book with Disney as not prepaired to pay in full and then find the extra activites are fully bokked.

[Illbcruzn4life]

4 hours ago, Essex_uk said:

Not going to book with Disney as not prepaired to pay in full and then find the extra activites are fully bokked.

does that mean you are booking last minute or do you have to pay in full when booking a cruise in thye UK?

[mommb]

20 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

does that mean you are booking last minute or do you have to pay in full when booking a cruise in thye UK?

You do not need to pay in full until a few month before the cruise, but you can't book onboard activities until you are paid in full. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

8 hours ago, mommb said:

You do not need to pay in full until a few month before the cruise, but you can't book onboard activities until you are paid in full. 

gotcha. ty for the reply

[jrsegrl]

Long time DCL cruisers - since 1999.  We were on the Dream the last week in April and there was definitely something off.  Food and service were bad.  Disney is not known for their food but this was our 46th Disney cruise and it was way worse.  On our cruise they did have someone from Corporate onboard so pretty sure they are aware that there is a problem.  We didn't complain but when we got home I called to book another cruise and the agent told me there were a lot of complaints.  There were a lot of families with a lot of kids which made the ship very crowded.  We sailed on the Magic 3 weeks ago and totally different.  It was also a very full sailing but seemed to operate more efficiently.  Husband and I agreed they seemed to making more of an effort than in the past.  Food and service were much improved. I dragged a very unwilling husband to Disney Dreams and after the show he actually commented that he enjoyed it.  We will be on the Fantasy next week for the Halloween cruise so we will see how that one goes.

[khoffman]

We have sailed several lines. Have done a couple of Disney cruises. Concerning food the last several cruises, it is not s good as several years ago. We asked a cruise line chef we know why this is. He stated two big reasons. Inflation and cost control. Restaurants and cruise lines can pick from different levels of food to control costs. Inflation has hit the cruise food industry very hard. 
Once things are down graded, they do not return to prior levels.