From:
Mia Hess
Cruise
Ship: Magic
Cruise
dates: Jan. 25 - Feb. 1, 2015
Dear
Disney Cruise Folks,
This
was my very FIRST cruise and I had a GREAT time! I am 60 years old and came with adult
friends, no kids.
Some
shout-outs and hoorays:
*Clara
Oman, the pianist in Keys.
What
a talent, what a nice, lovely, generous, sweet lady she is. She plays and sings with sensitivity, grace,
and has nice takes on anything she turns her hand to. I’m a professional singer and coach so I’m VERY
critical of other singers. You have a real gem there in her! Love her!
*Natalie,
the cruise director.
She
is a delight. I got a chance to talk to
her a couple of times about non-cruising things and she is super; helpful,
funny. She makes a really hard job seem
easy and fun. Kudos!
*Also
Carly, one of the other “white uniforms” was really nice! Lovely gal!
I met one of the gentlemen as well but I can’t remember his name; he was
English.
*Our
room steward Calvin.
Our
room was always wonderful; homey and clean.
And he is the Towel Creation Master!!
He DOES have a black belt in towel making! I know that being a room steward is a really
hard job too. I needed scissors and he
found me some quickly, for which I was very grateful. He was great!
“Have a magical day!” I loved the
turn-down he’d do for our room at night.
My girlfriend (younger than me) slept on the sofa and he always made it
look like a comfy bed. She said it was comfortable!
*Our
waiters, Luis and Marcos.
They
were really competent, caring and funny.
Sometimes it was hard to understand Luis (he talked so fast), but that’s
ok! His 17 years experience on the
cruise showed --- in the best way possible. Marcos was awesome! I loved him; he
was charming and never made me like he was too busy; he gave exceptional service.
The dining experiences with them were always great. I know how busy they are but I never felt
rushed. The service was impressive!
The
food was anywhere from pretty good to excellent. I know how hard it is to cook for over 2,000
people so getting beef the right temperature (rare, medium, etc.) is very
challenging. I think the food in Lumiere’s
was my least favorite; the food in Animator’s Palate was my favorite, all in
all. One of the nights there was parmesan
crusted chicken over pasta with way, way too much pepper on it, not good. I’m glad I didn’t get that!
*The
coffee everywhere was great and I’m a real coffee snob. It never tasted burnt, bitter or too strong! I rarely had to put sugar in it.
*We
ate one dinner (Jan. 25th) and one brunch (Jan. 30th) at
Palo’s. Our server was great, Vlado! The
mushroom risotto was out of this world. I
had the beef tenderloin, which was pretty good. At brunch, the strawberry soup
was delicious and the gorgonzola pizza (which I should have gotten) was
wonderful. I had a frittata; it was
pretty good too. The plain croissant was
to die for!! Perfection! Like one you’d get in Paris!
*The
chefs in the kitchen and the whole kitchen staff!
Applause!!!
One
of our party is highly allergic to anything with cow’s milk in it and as each
day progressed her desserts got better and better. Luis made sure she had the menu for the next
day so she could plan on what to order or ask questions. Impressive!
*Bar
waiter Robie from India on Deck 9 adult pool is a super guy, very nice!
*Trivia
Jo was awesome! Funny, quick-witted, a
real delight! Loved, loved her! She called our group of six “the crazy ones.”
*Everywhere
I went the ship was lovely and clean!
Bravo to the staff who has to do all that! I personally made sure to thank anyone I
saw. I figured they don’t get that too
often.
*I
really loved that there were places for adults ONLY! Thank you!
I really didn’t know that there were 1,100 kids on the ship. Well done!!
*All
the staff I met, even in passing, were nice and cheerful. I got a picture with Bernie from the Philippines
and a pretty blonde girl from Europe. I
think her name was Sonja, but I’m not sure.
I never felt as though I was taking up their time, which I know is
extremely valuable.
I
asked a few crew members for directions and instead of telling me, they usually
took me where I needed to go. Which was
very nice, as I have a vision challenge thing going on. My husband worked for WDW from 1976-1977 so I
know that’s a Disney thing (cheerfulness, helpfulness) but everyone I met
seemed genuine.
I
do love that you have folks from all over the world and that you can see where
they are from on their name tags. I met very few American crew members. They
must all be in the show or being princesses!
*I
really enjoyed the Drink Of The Day idea!
I also like that you can bring alcohol aboard. Thank you!
*Fireworks
were great! Super cool! Part of our group is a Disney Platinum cruiser
and he knew the perfect place to stand!
*Even
though you had shops on board ship, I never felt (unlike the parks) that it was
one huge Buy-Buy-Buy Our Stuff! That’s
very disillusioning at the parks.
*The
fellow that played Jack Sparrow looked really good! He could have laid on the charm even more
with us “more seasoned” pirate wenches, but he did do a really good job!
*I
heard tons of people (with kids) saying that Peter Pan and his interactivity
were fabulous, by the way!
*The
shows were really good. I’ve been in
theater for 45 years (pro, semi-pro and community) so I think I’m pretty
knowledgeable.
My
favorites were “Villains Tonight” and the Cinderella retake. The ladies who played the Stepmother and the
step-sisters were wonderful! Loved them!
The
tech and pyro were brilliant; extremely well done. Those backstage folks need to REALLY take a
bow.
The
costumers must work day and night to keep those costumes up! I’ve worked wardrobe on big musicals before
and I shuttered at the thought of how hard those folks must work.
The
sound and lighting guys did a super job. Bravo!
I
only knew one person in the shows, Hannah.
I did a show with her about 10 years ago. I wish I knew more cast members’ names so I
could give them a shout out.
*The
woman who sang Ursula and the song from Lion King (“Circle of Life”) was phenomenal! Wow!
*The
girls who were the princesses for meet and greet are lovely, graceful and
gracious. I hope their knees hold up from beautifully sinking to their knees,
up and down! I hope they ice those
suckers!
*I
was glad to see Tianna! The girl that
played her was stunning! I didn’t meet
her, but she was simply gorgeous!
*The
photographers were all really nice! I
talked to one girl from Ukraine, she was so nice!
*I
chatted briefly with Captain John, what a charming man. What a hard job he has!!
*Thank
you for having a dedicated smoking area on Deck 9 that has tables and ashtrays. I met the NICEST folks there! We called
ourselves “The Deck Niners!” Very
relaxing place to be! Having a dedicated
smoking area is the only way I’m EVER getting my husband on a Disney cruise! It’s the only way I got him to WDW in Sept.
2013.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some
Suggestions:
*If
there are 2 people in a cabin (2 adults) there should be 2 surveys for each of
us to fill out. Also there should be a
place on the forms to make suggestions.
*There
need to be more princess/character meet and greets.
Where
was Aurora, Snow White and maybe Pocahontas?
A
lot of us baby boomers were little kids when SLEEPING BEAUTY came out so Aurora
is “our” princess.
I
think you should have had another time with Elsa and Anna too. That’s a very popular movie and one
meet-and-greet for them isn’t enough.
Please understand…..The meet-and-greets are
just not a “kid” thing either. I’m 60
and I got all teary meeting Mickey Mouse and wept openly when I met Cinderella.
(Stupid, I know.)
The
lady in line behind me to meet Belle was from Egypt and she was so excited to
meet Belle I thought she’d jump out of her veil.
*There
is almost no mention of CARS or the characters except one picture of Mater on
the way to Animator’s Palate. It was a
big hit for Disney and it’s my husband’s favorite movie (not just a Disney
movie but his all-time favorite MOVIE). It was also that way at WDW too; very
little CARS stuff.
I’m
not sure how you’d do it but those Imagineers could figure out some interactive
way to have time with Lightning or Mater. Places have talking snowmen and trees
at Christmas time; I bet the same thing could happen with those
characters. Think auto-animatronics. Both
on the ships and at the parks. “Kaaaa-chow!!”
*My
criticism of the shows was sometimes romantic music felt rushed. For example: “So
This Is Love” from Cinderella. The female singers were very good but the
tendency to over-sing was evident. It’s
a trend in modern musicals, where everything is “big” or overdone. It gets shrill after a while. Even the guys, for the most part, sounded “pushed.”
It doesn’t always have to be big and loud!
Also,
since FROZEN was such a big money-maker for The Mouse, you need to revamp some
of those shows to include something from it.
I don’t think that movie is all that and a bag of chips, but it’s really
popular.
*On
Decks 10 and 4, where there is one ashtray, can you maybe put two? They fill up fast.
*You
need more trash cans. Those suckers were
hard to find. I think some of us smokers would have emptied the ashtrays
ourselves to help keep things tidy if we’d seen a trash can. I just didn’t want
to leave a paper cup on the table. How
rude would that be? I heard quite a few
people asking where in the heck was one?
*The
folks at Port Adventures were great, very courteous.
I
know it’s asking a lot but I think they really need to know what you need to take
or wear for certain things. I went on
the Chukka Horse ride and swim and it would have been helpful to have known
what the drill was going to be. I had
looked it up so I knew but some people were clueless. Also I’d love to have been able to ask them
for suggestions as to beaches on (for example) Grand Cayman that were
nice. I found out that information out
from other experienced cruisers.
I
think the Port Adventure folks need to be “in the know” for off-shore things
that aren’t part of a package.
*I
think the spa is a bit pricey but then it IS a spa aboard a ship. I did do the steam rooms once; they were
lovely.
*The
restaurants (with the exception of Palo) are very noisy. I think it’s because the ceilings are
high. Have you all thought about putting
sound baffling in them?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In
conclusion, I’d go on another Disney cruise in a heartbeat and I am NOT a
Disney freak by any stretch of the imagination.
I hope my budget will allow me to do so --- soon! I actually think my husband would enjoy it; he
could laze around in the sun and do absolutely nothing if he wanted to.
The
crew members and service I got were just the best!
Sincerely,
Mia
Hess
