Just got back from our first Disney Cruise. Overall experience was excellent, especially if you ask our son who had a blast. This was the 5-night cruise out of Miami with a Marvel day at sea, 2 stops at Castaway Cay. I'm curious to get thoughts from anyone who's sailed on other cruise lines about the value/cost of DCL. I'll start with some highlights though, the highs and lows. Full disclosure: we've sailed Carnival, Celebrity, and Holland America as well.
Highs: amazing service, food was way better than I expected, running at 40% capacity we basically never waited in line for anything, cabins and really the whole boat were super clean. Especially considering this is a 24 year old boat, I was blown away. Wait staff and housekeeping were so nice and caring. You could tell that everyone was super focused on making sure the kiddos have a good time. Oceaneers (kids) club staff were so cheery and super helpful, our son wanted to spend ALL his time in there. Castaway Cay days were SUPER easy - tram to the beach, grab floats and life vests if you need them, then just chill out! Marvel day was full of amazing experiences, especially the after dinner show on deck - WOW! Loved having some adult spaces on board where we could relax as grown ups. Cabins are extremely well designed - loved the split bath and convertible couch, tons of storage, loved having our own fridge.
Lows: DCL Navigator app is awful. Onboard wifi is awful. Dining schedule is very rigid, with limited options if you miss your assigned seating time. Cabins are small when compared to similar offerings on other cruise lines. Verandah was 230 sq ft on the Magic. Verandahs on most competitors are closer to 300 sq ft, which makes a big difference. Besides Cove Cafe, where's the coffee shop?! Key to the World card should be renamed to "key to absolutely nothing except your actual stateroom" because we had to sign physical receipts anytime we ordered a drink. In a very Disney way, they nickel and dime you for everything. Saw a charge for $12.95 for our son's "Magic" band - WTH?! We just gave you $2,000 and you want $13 for the wristband? And selling us slow internet by the megabyte? Who wants to count megabytes on vacation?
Basically, anything that involved technology, it seemed like they were stuck in 2005. You can't handle gratuities in the app, you have to hand your server etc. a physical piece of paper with their tip on it?! You can't buy WiFi from the app, it sends you to a website instead. You can't view your photos from the app, you have to go to the onboard photo shop. Wanna download those photos? First take a screen shot of a website, then go visit that website but you can only access it from onboard (seriously). Leaving for your shore excursion? Have a screen shot of your reservation handy, because they app doesn't work at all if it's not on the ship's wifi (seriously). So keep your phone in airplane mode for your whole voyage, they actually instruct you to do this.
None of the lows were deal breakers of course, mostly just annoying, or at least, not a very Disney-like part of the overall cruise experience.
My broader question is, are there any frequent DCL cruisers out there who are frustrated by the lack of "all-inclusive" pricing with DCL that so many other cruise lines offer? We just booked our next Holland America cruise for later this year, for example. You buy a verandah on HAL and it's 33% larger, includes free laundry service and priority boarding. With their current "have it all" promo, we also got: drinks, gratuities, wifi, shore excursions and specialty dining included in the base fare. Yes, all of that. Norwegian right now is offering similarly inclusive packages plus 70% off the 2nd guest. On Celebrity, drinks, wifi and tips are always included, it's not even a "promotion." Yeah, these other guys don't have the Mouse, but you can literally save hundreds, even thousands of dollars. What am I missing?
Highs: amazing service, food was way better than I expected, running at 40% capacity we basically never waited in line for anything, cabins and really the whole boat were super clean. Especially considering this is a 24 year old boat, I was blown away. Wait staff and housekeeping were so nice and caring. You could tell that everyone was super focused on making sure the kiddos have a good time. Oceaneers (kids) club staff were so cheery and super helpful, our son wanted to spend ALL his time in there. Castaway Cay days were SUPER easy - tram to the beach, grab floats and life vests if you need them, then just chill out! Marvel day was full of amazing experiences, especially the after dinner show on deck - WOW! Loved having some adult spaces on board where we could relax as grown ups. Cabins are extremely well designed - loved the split bath and convertible couch, tons of storage, loved having our own fridge.
Lows: DCL Navigator app is awful. Onboard wifi is awful. Dining schedule is very rigid, with limited options if you miss your assigned seating time. Cabins are small when compared to similar offerings on other cruise lines. Verandah was 230 sq ft on the Magic. Verandahs on most competitors are closer to 300 sq ft, which makes a big difference. Besides Cove Cafe, where's the coffee shop?! Key to the World card should be renamed to "key to absolutely nothing except your actual stateroom" because we had to sign physical receipts anytime we ordered a drink. In a very Disney way, they nickel and dime you for everything. Saw a charge for $12.95 for our son's "Magic" band - WTH?! We just gave you $2,000 and you want $13 for the wristband? And selling us slow internet by the megabyte? Who wants to count megabytes on vacation?
Basically, anything that involved technology, it seemed like they were stuck in 2005. You can't handle gratuities in the app, you have to hand your server etc. a physical piece of paper with their tip on it?! You can't buy WiFi from the app, it sends you to a website instead. You can't view your photos from the app, you have to go to the onboard photo shop. Wanna download those photos? First take a screen shot of a website, then go visit that website but you can only access it from onboard (seriously). Leaving for your shore excursion? Have a screen shot of your reservation handy, because they app doesn't work at all if it's not on the ship's wifi (seriously). So keep your phone in airplane mode for your whole voyage, they actually instruct you to do this.
None of the lows were deal breakers of course, mostly just annoying, or at least, not a very Disney-like part of the overall cruise experience.
My broader question is, are there any frequent DCL cruisers out there who are frustrated by the lack of "all-inclusive" pricing with DCL that so many other cruise lines offer? We just booked our next Holland America cruise for later this year, for example. You buy a verandah on HAL and it's 33% larger, includes free laundry service and priority boarding. With their current "have it all" promo, we also got: drinks, gratuities, wifi, shore excursions and specialty dining included in the base fare. Yes, all of that. Norwegian right now is offering similarly inclusive packages plus 70% off the 2nd guest. On Celebrity, drinks, wifi and tips are always included, it's not even a "promotion." Yeah, these other guys don't have the Mouse, but you can literally save hundreds, even thousands of dollars. What am I missing?
So honey, where's the pre-trippie?
