As part of a larger trip (sandwiched between two stays on Disney property), my wife and I decided to try out DCL by booking a Merrytime 3 night cruise on the Disney Fantasy. This is our second ever cruise, and first on DCL. I thought I would share our experiences, including the good, the bad, and the pretty.
I will break this up into a few topical posts, starting with transportation.
Thanks for sharing!
TRANSPORTATION ARRIVAL
When we booked the cruise, we also added on DCL transportation from our resort to the port and back. The total cost was $180 for both of us, both directions. It may have been cheaper another way, but there are a couple advantages to using their transportation.
First, they pick up your luggage from your room at 7 am. They say you don’t have to be in the room, but we were, so they knocked, and I passed off my luggage to the bellman, not to be seen again until later on the ship. We also did carry on some luggage, because we didn’t want to have to wait once our stateroom was going to be available. Was this a good idea? Well, it depends. Our cabin was available at 1:30, and they say the luggage may not arrive until 6 pm. In the end, our luggage was to our room by around 3 pm, so perhaps there would have been no issue just letting them take all of it.
Second, using DCL gets you an earlier boarding group. We were boarding group 3, and they started calling our group within 5 minutes of boarding group 1. This was nice in that we could go grab lunch ahead of the rest of the ship. But that’s about it. It seems they have the boarding process down, and I think everyone was on board rather quickly anyhow.
Anyhow, once our luggage was taken, we had been scheduled to meet the DCL representative in the Bellevue Lounge (staying at BWV) at 9:15. The representative was super nice and chatty…although, she almost is too good at her job in that she was honestly acting like the Disney Fantasy is the most beautiful thing you have ever laid your eyes on next to heaven itself!
Once everyone arrived, and she received word the bus was almost to BWV, she led us to the pick up location (which was in front of the conference center entrance) and we boarded around 9:45. We were the last stop for our bus, so off we went. (I know they picked up Beach Club ahead of us.) The luggage we were carrying ourselves went into the belly of the bus, much like Mears Connect.
We arrived to the terminal a little more than an hour later where there was a dedicated entrance for bus arrivals. The process at the terminal was fast and efficient. If you using your MB+ on the ship, they will scan them and link them to your room at that point (you don’t do it yourself).
We sat in the terminal for a short while before they started calling boarding groups.
Once you step on board, the first thing they do is announce your arrival to the ship, asking your name, and then proclaiming to cheer for us. I suppose this is a tradition, and the kids may love it. But it felt obligatory, with only a handful of CMs there clapping. If we could have, we would have preferred to have just skipped it. We didn’t feel special from it at all. Again, I think if you are a family with kids, however, the kids would love it.
The lobby itself was beautifully decorated, including a large Christmas tree and gingerbread house. Mickey was there to wave at us as well. I later learned about some of the details in the lobby on a tour. The entire ship is heavily inspired by Art Nouveau, so you will find references to peacocks throughout the ship. The lobby is no exception, and you can see it in the giant chandelier as well as the carpet design.
The lobby was large, but significantly smaller than I had anticipated due to our experience on our previous cruise on Allure of the Seas, which is the only thing we have to compare to.
We took the elevators up to the pool deck, which is also where the food is available for lunch. The elevators are rather small, and throughout the cruise proved to be a pinch point at times. They really needed larger elevators, or more of them. But during off time (such as times not tied to when shows were getting out, etc) they were fine.
I will discuss food later, but we grabbed food from Flo’s Cafe rather than Cabanas to avoid being in a crush of people. The food options are limited there. The biggest issue I faced was getting my Diet Coke. The machines next to the pool were out of Diet Coke, so I went into Cabanas. The machine there was also out. I found a CM, and she had me wait while she went to find some. 10 minutes later, she came back with a cup full and said she had to go all the way to the other side of the ship because all the machines on the side we were on was out. Not a great first impression, honestly. And…it wasn’t Diet Coke. I think it was either Coke Zero or Diet Pepsi. I really don’t like Coke Zero. But throughout the cruise, they didn’t seem to ever have actual Diet Coke even though that is what the machines said it was.
We hung out until 1:30 when we could finally go to our stateroom. I will cover that more in a bit, but we unpacked and appreciated our deck for a bit. I can’t recall if we went back out to explore at this point or not, but I did eventually fall asleep for a brief nap while my wife sat out on the balcony. The rest of our luggage arrived around 3.
We headed up to the pool deck for the sail away party. It was not altogether different than what you might see in front of the castle at MK. High energy, with Mickey and friends playing a central role.
We headed back to our room and watched the actual sail away from our verandah, since it was on the ship’s aft.
Early dinner was 5:45 in the Enchanted Garden. Again, I will cover food itself later, but the EG itself was simultaneously beautiful and oversold. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I guess it was more than what it was. The “transformation” that took place during the meal was very subtle and if you didn’t know to pay attention to it, you would miss it. Also, we had requested being at a table by ourselves, but instead we were seated at a table for 8…although we only ever had 6. The couple we sat across from was nice and in a similar life stage, which I guess Disney tries to do when they seat you with strangers, which was nice at least. (Although, the other couple sat at the other end of the table and so we didn’t really interact with them…they were considerably younger.)
After dinner, we had a brief break before heading to the main theatre to watch Aladdin. The theatre is impressive, although, again, felt small compared to the one on Allure of the Seas. The show itself was excellent…which I will cover in more detail later. We sat in the balcony, don’t row. This wasn’t a good decision. My wife is short, and the railing actually blocks your view a bit, so for the following two nights we sat further back which was better. They theatre itself didn’t completely fill, but mostly was full.
Before the show, Jimmy the Cruise Director was, um…super excited. He did the whole force everyone to pretend to be as excited about everything as he was by making us cheer as loud as possible thing. It was, frankly, cringe-worthy, and would have preferred a much more sedate introduction.
After the show, back to the cabin…but the elevators were overwhelmed by the flood of people. We ended up finding another route. Exhausted, we ended up going to bed right away. Neither of us got great sleep though. The bed was comfortable enough, but just…that whole first night in a new place thing.
They started building this about halfway through my TA cruise, we thought we were going to get to see it finished but the walls never came down.
FOOD AND DINING
So, one of our main hesitations about a DCL cruise was the food. When we looked over the menus for the three main restaurants, we had trouble finding things we thought we would like. We aren’t foodies, so like a more basic menu. We pretty much skipped the appetizer every night and a couple nights either one or both of us skipped the soup/salad offering. There was generally one option for the entree we liked and went with. Same with the dessert options.
The food at each if the main three dining rooms was prepared beautifully and cooked perfectly…but…I would not say any of it was amazing or anything. Adequate to good. Nothing to complain about, but also nothing to say was life changing either.
As promised, the same servers followed is for each night of the cruise to each dining venue. The main server was funny, although tried to push jokes on us more than any of us really wanted. Kids probably would have loved him, though. He was hard to understand, and the venues were loud… particularly Royal Court and Animator’s Pallette. A LOT of the CMs on board were in training and we heard complaints about their servers. That wasn’t our experience…although everything did feel a little rushed/chaotic, so you could tell the whole experience for many of the CMs was new. Growing pains I guess.
We never had breakfast on the ship, but we were surprised that Cabanas was only open each day until 3 pm! On Allure, the buffet and other places to eat were available all day. But on Fanatasy, choices were limited once Cabanas closed. Just Flo’s Cafe, which became overwhelmed later. And the food at Flo’s is mediocre at best. The brats were horrible. Buns dry, and the meat was so bad neither of us could finish it! The chicken tenders and burgers were better. I also tried the taco/taco bowl place in Flo’s. It was so bland…hardly any flavor with no spice/heat.
I did grab ice cream from the Sweet shop, which you pay extra for. It was quite good. There is free soft serve over near the pool as well, but it was constantly swarmed with people, so I can’t say how good or bad it was. The fact so many people were getting it suggests it was good enough.
Overall, my take was the food on the ship was a weak point. The food on Allure was much better in most aspects, including options, taste, and availability.
Note: The two premium locations, Palo and Remy, we didn’t eat at. The food was just way outside our comfort zone to even try. But I always hear great things about both, so if you are more adventurous than us, probably worth doing.
The actual venues were well themed, but also, as I mentioned earlier, a bit oversold. Enchanted Garden was pretty, and Royal Court has some beautiful tiles murals, but both kind of fell flat for us. Animator’s Pallette was the best overall. We only got the Crush interaction experience since it was only a three night cruise. But, we weren’t at a table near Crush, so we only got watch.
I would post a picture here for you to see, but it is on my wife’s phone not mine. It was fairly impressive, on par with the house at, say, The Contemporary in terms of scale, not design.
(In case anyone is wondering about the title of this thread, the Minnie is both a play on the fact this was a mini, or short, 3 day cruise…but also that the statue in the lobby on the Fantasy is Minnie Mouse.)
ENTERTAINMENT
There was plenty of entertainment on the ship each day, and too much to do most of it on only a 3 night cruise. But what we did see was quite good.
The highlight each night was the main show in the Walt Disney theater at the front of the ship. The venue was beautiful, albeit small compared to the theatre on the Allure. Still, it was great not having to pre-book the shows and just show up. Each show was done twice each night…during the opposite dining times. Best to show up right at 8:00 pm or so for the 8:30 show just to have your pick of seats. The seats themselves were small and tightly packed, so I was glad these were not full-length shows. If someone was next to you, you were going to be a little more intimate than you might like!
All three shows were excellent, with highlights to each. The magic carpet scene was the showstopper in Aladdin, and the blending of tech and live sets in Frozen was impressive. Believe is an original show that is a cute way of tying well known Disney songs into a single show.
We also went to see Zootopia 2 in the Buena Vista Theatre. Okay. The seats in this venue were crazy. It was to watch people sit in them because they go way back. It is actually better to sit towards the front of the theatre as a result. We hated the seats enough that we decided not to go back to see Elio the next day.
We also did one of the Disney Parks Trivia sessions. The girl (young women really, but she seemed so young) who ran it was amazing. She deserves a raise! And she was only 2 weeks on the job.
I went on The Art of the Theme ship tour…excellent tour. Highly recommend.
Most of the shows that were in the lobby or pool deck were very Disney. As I mentioned earlier, if you have seen a castle show at MK, that is the vibe. Very kid friendly. Not really our vibe, but still cute to experience. If you have kids, probably a must do.
The night is the Pirate Party, we checked it out for a while (and yes, we were dressed in pirate outfits), but we were exhausted and ended up not staying for the fireworks. We wanted to, but we were dead on our feet at that point.
There were character meets every day all throughout the day in various spots, so if you are into that, you will have a lot of opportunities. Similarly, there is live music throughout the ship throughout the day. We mostly happened upon it, but the cruise navigator had times listed if you wanted to go specially for it.
This honestly blows my mind on a cruise line that wants to cater to families! If I am on a 7 night cruise, it is very likely that my kids are not doing a sit-down dinner every night. The option to do a buffet after a long day of excursion or the need to eat really quick before an early show is huge. This was a huge DCL turn off for me. (Like you, I don’t think Flo’s counts as a dinner venue.)
Yay! So excited to read on!
It’s a balance for me. We’ve had trips where we get luggage by 4-5pm and others where it’s still rolling in at 7-8pm. Very rarely do we get a bag before 2pm. So I like to pack one rolling carry-on case with the magnets, door decor, any gift exchanges we are bringing to give, and a tote with day essentials including swimwear. But everything else I do try to take them on, including everyone else’s rolling carry-on bags.
I can see if the CMs clapping there are not that into it how it gets awkward. But it’s a highlight I look forward to every single time and I feel like I’ve arrived stepping into the beautiful atrium with our family name being announced. But I get how it can feel strange. And we’ve had our name said wrong (on the Wonder) and the kids BEG me to give that wrong name every time. I’ve made a deal that anytime we sail the Wonder they can give that name, but otherwise, we give our actual name.
I agree with this on the 4 older ships, particularly the smaller and first 2, Magic & Wonder. Their elevators are joke/fun-sized and I hate them. I do feel like the newer class of ships (Wish, Treasure, Destiny) fixed a lot of this by eliminating the midship elevators and forcing people to head to either forward or aft to take an elevator. And they did add more elevators total between the 2 banks. And the banks aren’t as far aft and forward, but rather between aft and midship and between forward and midship. I think that a lot of times, people just always use and fill up the midship elevators because they’re conveniently in the middle of everything leaving the aft and forward ones much less busy.
I am the opposite and love Coke Zero, can’t stand Diet Coke. And I don’t know what soda machine (if any) have Diet Coke, but I know they have certain drinks on certain sides and you have to cross from port to starboard to see what’s different (but just going forward and aft will all be the same).
I have found that every time I order a Coke Zero from the main dining rooms, they bring me a Diet Coke (with a lemon) and I’ve done it now enough that I’m certain they just interchange the 2 and bring whichever ones closer to their station and so at dinner instead of ordering soda, I’ll order an Arnold Palmer so that I actually like my drink instead of gambling on if it will be Diet or Zero.
Both times we have done a ship with Enchanted Garden we have been in the same back corner near a kitchen entrance and with highchair storage stacked near us. And both times the effects were completely broken right by us (on different ships even). So I have yet to actually love Enchanted Garden too. It is beautiful with the lighting, but yea the transformation part of it is sorely in need of updates.
Different cruise directors have different bits and there are some that I just love! But they are SO cheesy. We’ve had one cruise director now 5 times and her spiel is EXACTLY the same no matter the cruise. So her spiel now to me feels a little less genuine, since it’s more of a rehearsed motion that doesn’t vary. But you get a little more of their personality if you watch the morning report they record and deliver on the TV stateroom channel that gives a rundown of the day and some highlights of the activities. It’s like a much better version of morning news.
And that’s on a longer day. Most days it’s 2pm or if it’s a popular port day (like Castaway) it’s 1:30pm. I hate the limited lunch buffet too. Unless you want chicken tenders, pizza, or burgers you are very pigeon-holed on your lunchtime and sometimes there’s things you want to DO that are scheduled over the limited lunch.
Nooo!!! You didn’t see the salsa bar they had with like 30+ different salsa options??? I don’t know exactly where it is on the Fantasy since that’s been newly added since we were on it, but on the Dream and the new ships that came installed with a taco place they all have a salsa bar that gives you a whole buffet of salsa/spice/heat options. I’m sad for you and declare you need a redo.
I feel this way about dinner at both of these. But Palo brunch is either breakfast foods (with the best cooked eggs, any of them are amazing) and Italian foods. And has the best chicken parmesean and a very good lasagna. So I would definitely take a peek at the brunch menu (and by being a repeat cruiser on DCL you would get a little leg up on getting a brunch reservation there and it’s very worth the $55 cost for anything you want off of that brunch menu.
And such a fashionable diva of a Minnie!
Huh, I guess I’ve only ever sat in the front row or two in this theater and never been annoyed with it. But I do remember the seat being so cozy that I kept falling asleep. The newer ships definitely don’t have seats that go back like that.
They used to staff Cabanas with a skeleton wait crew and they would serve a much more casual (and quick) sit-down dinner so that you had another option aside from your seated rotation and I wish they would figure something else out because I know it’s a common complaint. They do have limited options for deck food and they do have room service that is available 24/7 with no upcharge for most of it BUT they’ve also cut back the room service menu quite a bit. So yea, they defeinitely are missing an ingredient that would help families (or anyone really) have an easier time of getting food at dinner time if they are not up to sitting for the duration of the main dining.
There was no such bar. The bar there had burger toppings, plus dipping sauces and ketchup/mustard. The only salsa option was where the CMs were serving, and it was a single mild option.
Weird, there were several salsa options here on our cruise. Maybe they ran out? 
I say you were saved from yourself. 
Wait, you went on a cruise for Travel Agents?! 
We loved the quick service options on the Wish! It sounds like they were similar to what Ryan described (tacos, pizza, burgers, chicken) but I liked it all. 
So did my kids. I never felt like there was a shortage of food. But then again, I don’t like to pig out all day – I am very careful about snacking. It’s how I keep my boyish figure. 
same food, different name of the place serving it.
I mostly agree about the food at the rotational dining. Mostly just good, not bad but nothing to be amazed by. There were a few dishes that were delicious though. I had salmon one night that was really good and a mushroom gnocchi that was great! But mostly it was good enough.
I will have more posts probably tomorrow.. couldn’t finish my thoughts up today.
First you drank all of @ryan1’s Diet Coke and now you’ve used up all the salsa? NO ONE should take a cruise after @ThorKat’s done with a ship! 
Just as well – can’t have you finishing your cruise report before @ThorKat hits the Atlantic in hers.
I’m happy I am not horribly behind in that one! As I work to get my 4 nights posted. 
I’m through day 1! And I just need to add photos of the next morning and afternoon for the next post. I should do that now. Good reminder. Thanks Cricket!
