Never again

[Cris&Cris]

Just returned from a 7 day Norwegian Fjord cruise on the Disney Dream and it was horrible. Not the ship, not iit’s wonderful crew. Not the places we visited but the cowardly attitude off Disney Cruise Line to wake up and smell the coffee and stop appeasing those who are ruining your product. We had gangs of kids running around terrorizing adults and others all over the ship. We had adults bring there kids into adult areas, we had adults when confronted on there kids behaviors basically shrug it off. We had people playing loud music in there staterooms, we had kids running around in the dining rooms, kids running in the stateroom hallways at one in the morning. A large Spanish family cutting the lines for the dinning every night like they were royalty. Now I don’t blame Disney for creating this but do hold them accountable for not confronting these families or policing this bad behavior. Now I’m European but I have never encounter so much entitlement, cue cutting, selfish behavior on US bases cruises. We wil not take another European based cruise again and it hurts to say this as an European but this was embarresing.

 

[Girl of the South]

I videotape misbehaving kids, etc, and go to Guest Serviced. I haven’t experienced that behavior in Europe BUT it sounds terrible.

 

[mcd2745]

It's becoming a problem at any vacation destination, but particularly with cruises - and not just DCL. People feel like they are not just on vacation from their job/occupation...they think they are on vacation from their parental responsibilities.

 

[happycamper47]

It's becoming a problem at any vacation destination, but particularly with cruises - and not just DCL. People feel like they are not just on vacation from their job/occupation...they think they are on vacation from their parental responsibilities.

Travel clientele totally, just look at airlines.

 

[nycdisneygal]

We are doing that trip on the fantasy next august! eeeck . Terrible to hear about that behavior.

 

[Travel60]

Mentality of "I paid a lot for this trip so I'll do what I want."

 

[mmouse37]

Just returned from a 7 day Norwegian Fjord cruise on the Disney Dream and it was horrible. Not the ship, not iit’s wonderful crew. Not the places we visited but the cowardly attitude off Disney Cruise Line to wake up and smell the coffee and stop appeasing those who are ruining your product. We had gangs of kids running around terrorizing adults and others all over the ship. We had adults bring there kids into adult areas, we had adults when confronted on there kids behaviors basically shrug it off. We had people playing loud music in there staterooms, we had kids running around in the dining rooms, kids running in the stateroom hallways at one in the morning. A large Spanish family cutting the lines for the dinning every night like they were royalty. Now I don’t blame Disney for creating this but do hold them accountable for not confronting these families or policing this bad behavior. Now I’m European but I have never encounter so much entitlement, cue cutting, selfish behavior on US bases cruises. We wil not take another European based cruise again and it hurts to say this as an European but this was embarresing.

My friend reported the same exact thing on her European cruise in July. Said unruly kids were all over the place.

MJ

 

[Kailunkat]

Sorry that you had that experience!

 

[auntlynne]

Were you sailing in the dreaded August European vacation month? (I’m guessing yes - or very end of July). I’ve heard it’s best to just not go this month.

Do you think it would be different in May, June, or September?

For once, it’s not the Americans getting the blame.

 

[nmoody1]

Fellow European here - hatebthe European cruises for this reason. You'd think at the price point the charge it would thin this behaviour out.

Although it's everywhere now. Entitled kids, parents who don't know how to discipline or lack any understanding for anyone else. I see it in shops, restaurants etc.

I work in travel - if a lid is travelling with us and is blaring an iPad out I ask them to use headphones - the looks you get from some parents! There is just no understanding or social responsibility. I'm not quite sure how or when it happened

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

European here as well, had this experience as well and heard the short Southamptons are even worse!
Tbh i ve had similar experiences on the short (5n) Miami ones for mdas

 

[Cris&Cris]

Were you sailing in the dreaded August European vacation month? (I’m guessing yes - or very end of July). I’ve heard it’s best to just not go this month.

Do you think it would be different in May, June, or September?

For once, it’s not the Americans getting the blame.

Yes it was the 5 of August sailing, and I do think it will be better when vacation time’s ends in Europe. But it was the only cruise available with this itinerary we wanted and we booked it 18 months ago.

I don’t want to put anybody off, most of the cruise was fine but at the points where it gets busy like the lifts, cabanas etc where civility is most needed it seems it was everybody for themselves. Something which I never experienced at such a large scale on a cruise.

 

[epcot1stfave]

Not what I wanted to hear, we are on the 5 night to Spain Aug 27. We did the 7 night Northern Europe last year at the beginning of September and didn't experience any of that. Only booked the 5 night one as our 50th wedding anniversary falls within this cruise.
Michael

 

[elsawasajedi]

yep. last year's (2023) fjord cruise had a lot of the same, plus missteps from disney on ports.

we are huge dcl fans but we straight up tell people no dcl europe for us and don't recommend sailing dcl Europe. some of it was disney but some of it too was the behaviors you describe. crappy awful entitled behaviors from brits and Europeans.

we are american but have high behavior expectations for our kids. we get that Americans typically are embarrassing representations of us abroad however it was very clear to us last year that Americans were not the problem. we literally saw packs of unsupervised FIVE year Olds running around the ship.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

I wonder if its cause its Disney people think their kids are allowed to do all that.. i cruised HAL two weeks ago. It had 1600 Dutchies onboard and the other 1000 were plenty of Europeans. Plenty of kiddos and not a single time they bothered in whatever way whereas the kids/family orientated activities are way more limited on HAL

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

We had similar experiences on the Barcelona to Southampton cruise last month (minus the loud music in staterooms). Children running, screaming, climbing on countertops and railings (with parents just onlooking), people cutting lines, etc. My 8 and 11 year olds were overwhelmed. We didn’t let it ruin our vacation but it was hard to ignore. Very different from the Caribbean and Alaskan cruises we took prior.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Not what I wanted to hear, we are on the 5 night to Spain Aug 27. We did the 7 night Northern Europe last year at the beginning of September and didn't experience any of that. Only booked the 5 night one as our 50th wedding anniversary falls within this cruise.
Michael

Im on that cruise too. I was on last years 4 night to Bibao and yes it was insane. The Atrium was was the most crowded place every day, the character meets are crazy popular, the shops were busy the first night and first sea day, after that quiet. You can read my trip report here https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...-cruise-2023-complete-final-thoughts.3929341/

Im expecting the same from the 5 night Spain. The August sailings from Southampton are mainly UK and Irish people. Some have only done the UK Staycation cruise back in 2021, some are regular's to Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World, some have been to one Disney Park either Paris or Florida, some have never been on a cruise before and some have never done any Disney holiday before.

Its basically a lot of pent up demand, from people who dont have a lot of access to Disney holidays in general during UK and Irish school holidays. UK families in particular are very limited to holiday time as their main holiday time is August and there are big fines for taking children out of school just for a holiday.

 

[holula]

I’ve done this cruise in September 2022 and did not have this experience at all, but most kids would be back in school then. Entitlement has been everywhere since COVID and I think you notice it a lot more on cruises since there is no escape.

OP I’m really sorry you had this experience! I wish they would move this cruise back outside of peak summer months as Norway is amazing.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

ooof! That is a shame. We sailed early in the season this year, so not anything like that. You can see lots of shameful behavior everywhere-sometimes, not just cruises. I know on one of our Eastern's a bunch of adults that were very intoxicated and very loud were doing canon balls in the adult pool on afternoon. The bartenders were laughing, but upper management showed up pretty quick. We try and overlook, move on-whatever it takes, not not kill our vacation vibe. But where I draw the line is loud music from the cabin next door. Keep your tunes to yourself. I like my peace and hearing the ocean.

 

[RangerPooh]

Wow! It sounds like the entitlement of some families is off the chart. We watched problems with the adult area and children in the hot tubs on our March Cozumel cruise. Some people are just disrespectful to others vacations.

Someone posted about pricing as a way to sift out behaviors. You might sift out some but add more entitlement based on how much they’re paying. We did sail in 23 on the Disney+ deal and noticed guest behaviors worsening. Something that night be more acceptable on Carnival than on DCL.