Now that the Disney Cruise has been over for a few days we have thought it over and we are ready to give our ratings of our Disney Cruise.
Friendly
*5 appropriately sized smiles out of 5*
We expected the staff on the cruise to be friendly and nice but we were continuously amazed by how friendly they were. Our dining staff, which followed us around to each supper, were exceptional. They were professional and knowledgeable and did not push it. I was worried that they were going to act like TGIF servers on meth, luckily they weren't.
There were some staff that completely excelled. One woman asked if we needed anything when mom and I were looking at the salad baron deck 11 late at night on Christmas eve. We told her we were looking for some carrots because the kids wanted to leave some out for the reindeer. She said "I'll go look for some and I would be right back."
She came back 15 minutes later with a large carrot wrapped in saran wrap on a plate. She apologized for taking for so long but she "...had to go down to the main kitchen storage room on deck 1 to find a big carrot, little carrot sticks just wouldn't do it."
Cleanliness
*5 pumps of hand sanitizer out of 5*
It helped that the ship was fairly new, but it was always super clean. Staff were always looking to keep it clean. We saw a dude in white officer gear walking along and he stopped to pick up a few dirty napkins near a table.
What we really appreciated was that they wanted to keep us clean and healthy. Each time we went into a restaurant or buffet their were staff handing out wet wipes to sanitize with. We also mentioned the hand washers in the kids club rooms that everyone had to use each time they came through.
And our cabin was always tidy and clean. Our hostess was constantly popping in to take out garbage and wipe surfaces. It was unexpected but so nice. It never felt like we were in a tin can breathing stale germs air or around gross sick sneezes and germs bits. The staff always made sure that cleanliness was a high priority.
Food
*6 sea scallops (or chicken nuggets if you talked to the kids) out of 5*
Ermahgawd! Be prepared to gain about 10 pounds, just be ok with it, go with the flow and enjoy what they have.
The formal sit down supper restaurants had stellar food. The great thing was portions were not huge (because it was all fancy like), but with appetizers and soup and salad AND of course dessert, suppers were perfect! And they are always happy to bring something different or modify it of they can to suit your needs.
Our middle one wanted lobster and macaroni one night, because he wanted lobster. So Deniz our server brought him macaroni with fries, green beans and corn, and a lobster tail on the side. It made his night!
The other places on the boat were good as well. deck 11 was the pool deck,
And there were burgers (regular, veggie, chicken, salmon, etc.), chicken fingers, pizza, sandwiches, wraps, fruit, ice cream, salad, etc. available from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm. A perfect place for an afternoon snack or lunch, or late snack, or 'I'm bored snack'.
For lunch of breakfast we had good choices between a variety of sit down menu restaurants or buffet restaurants. We found the menu restaurants less busy, but fewer options compared to buffet. So each meal we got to decide whether choice or calm won over.
In all we did not have any major, or minor problems, with our food. The only draw back was the cost of alcohol and even the cost of pop. I could order a grilled salmon steak on pesto orzo with steamed asparagus for free with room service (I may have done that once or twice) for free (not free really because it is included in cost of the cruise), but ordering a pop with room service would cost $3.50. Strange, but not terrible.
One hint we would like to leave, order snacks in the afternoon. Sometimes we would find ourselves in our room in the late afternoon a bit exhausted and looking for a breather before our 5:45 standing supper reservation, so we would often order a fruit plate and cheese plate from room service.
Then lots of cheeses and crackers would come on a large plate paired with a nice big bowl of chopped fruit, these would make everyone happy for that last hour and a bit before we had to go out and be decent human folk again.
Rooms
*5 towel animals out of 5*
We can only really speak for our room and grandma and grandpa's room, but they were very nice! Not huge by any means but very nicely laid out. You can check out our earlier post about our room.
Everything in the room was great! Lots of storage, so you can easily unpack and hang things up. High bed so all your luggage can slide underneath during the week, a great cushion seat in the large galley window, a curtain that can be drawn to separate the room so the kids can sleep in piece while mom and dad stay up later. A small TV that can be pulled out so that it can be used in either side of the room if the curtain is drawn. And on and on.
Disney really did think of everything when they put these ships together....almost. My only beef with our room was the clothes hangers. Oh sure they worked perfectly and there were oodles of them to use, but if there were no clothes hanging on them they would sometimes clatter together at night if the sea was rough. Sad that that is my only problem (first world problem much!), but that also speaks to how Disney has taken care of all the big things.
Staff
*5 "No problem at all"s out of 5*
Putting aside the friendliness and helpfulness and niceiness of everyone, there were always staff around to help.
Disney has gone way above what I expected by fully staffing the ship and then adding more staff. It wasn't by any means over whelming with grabby hands and constant asks of "How are you doing", "Need anything? ", or "Can I help you brush your teeth?".
But staff were always there in every room or place so that you always had help IF you needed it.
I was waiting in a long-ish line at the service desk, to actually comment on a staff person who was amazing in how they had assisted us earlier, when an executive member of the crew came out and went down the line asking each person if they could answer any easy questions to help them avoid waiting in a long line. How smart! Way better use of a person than adding that them to another terminal at the service desk.
The staff we met were top notch, and we believe really made our Disney experience amazing.
Overall
*5 ...Sigh....Mickey ears our of 5*
Do it! It is pricy for sure compared to most options of how to spend a week, but it was definitely worth it.
The access to the Disney characters, the ship, the excursions, the activities, the staff, it all together really made this trip so unique and special it will go down in our family's history as #1.
