But, here are a few things I noticed. Not "good" or "bad" things per se, just different from the previous cruises.
- With a bigger ship and a smaller number of DISers, it felt less like we "owned" the cruise. On the previous cruises, it seemed like DISers were everywhere, especially with the PCC door magnets everwhere. This time, it felt like we were much more in the minority. For me, this definitely changed the "atmosphere" on the ship.
This is simple logistics. The Wonder holds around 2700 passengers, on 2.0 we had over 700 people sailing with us, and the ship wasn't filled to capacity on that sailing. We definitely represented a larger percentage of total guests. The Dream holds 4000 guests, I am told it was at capacity we were around 360. The owning of the ship feel was not going to happen (although a few of us owned Trivia!!!).
- On the previous trips, there seemed to be more evening and adult activites planned. Or, just more stuff planned in general. This time, the "official" activity list seemed pretty light. And, though I attended several of the talks with genuine personal interest, I thought it was a little disapponting that most of the daytime meets seemed to be centered around Dreams as a business rather than something more social.
I don't believe on 2.0 there were any official evening or adult activities planned (am I wrong on that?) DCL will simply not give us space during prime hours as they have other cruisers to keep busy as well. The activity list didn't feel light to those of us that attended everyone of them. I think we also have different defintions of light...yours is light as in missing grand gestures and Disney legends, but that was intentional. It was also verbalized on more than one occasion prior to sailing. We wanted to have more smaller low key activities that would give the Podcast Team more face time with our guests. Something we were told many didn't feel they got when everything happened as a large group. The only activity that could be seen as Dreams as a business was my talk on the first castaway day. You have been fortunate enough to be well travelled as have I. Many of our guests on these cruises are cruising for the first time ever. Based on previous cruises we realized there was a ot of confusion around rebooking and questions on cruising in general. Our intent was to inform, answer questions...and most of all to let people know that rebooking onboard is always a good idea if there is even a chance that will sail DCL in the future. Perhaps you could view Kevin's presentations as business, but really I feel it was more about Kevin sharing his passion for a product. No mention of the Silent Auction that raised a lot of money for GKTW?
- On the topic of on-board events... What ever happened to the "unofficial" events? I guess I'm guilty here as much as anyone, since there was nothing preventing me for organizing something. But, why again was there no West Coast meetup? I know Nancy said there was trouble getting it organized. I would've been happy just hanging out with other westcoasters at the Cove Cafe and sharing iPhone pics of Cars Land. Nothing fancy required. BTW, hats off to the folks who organized the stateroom crawl, which was one of the highights of my cruise. That Walt Disney Suite was amazing!
Again a logistics issue...half as many guests equals half as many people to plan unofficial events. As you said, you could have, why didn't you? My guess is like everyone else you are busy, didn't know where to start? Or for many, they are new to all of this, they didn't want to be over extended.
- A lot of folks I met from the previous cruises were absent from this one. I'm looking at you Todd, Lauren and Jeri, Frank, Heather and Anna (among others). I missed you guys and gals; it wasn't the same without you. Hope to see you on a future trip.
Some of these people are on 4.0, but again you knew who was cruising long ago. This was an expectation that should have been managed.
- I really enjoyed the presentation from Kevin and Jody. However, after the last cruise with Charlie Ridgeway, Bob Gurr and Jody Benson.... I mean, man, that's a hard lineup to top. Still... I have to be honest I was hoping for Marty Sklar or Dave Smith or Tony Baxter. It's hard not to make the comparison... Kevin and Jody are brilliant, but it wasn't as exciting for me as the lineup of Disney Legends we had last time.
Admittedly I knew very little about Kevin and Jody or their work prior to them being announced as guests. I was in awe of their presentation and found them fascinating. Wasn't it clear quite some time ago that those you mentioned were not sailing? Did you not believe us? I do feel this is an expectation that also should have been managed prior to sailing.
- The Podcast recording seemed a little rushed to me. Maybe it was due to the smaller stage or having to fit in the DL recording as well (though I enjoyed finally seeing what everyone looks like). There didn't seem to be as much playful banter as in years past, and the "giveaway" portion at the end seemed shorter than last time with the "favorite things" motif. A friend's mom who was sitting next to me was hoping that an iPad would be among the items, but the prizes were gift cards and $6000K trips. Granted, I am fully aware that they don't have to give anything away at all. But, I thought there was less variety in this year's items. Personally, I think I'd rather see more smaller prizes than fewer big-ticket ones, since that would give more people a chance at winning something without having to spend more on prizes. And, I have never been a fan of gift-cards in general, though I know they make for more practical prizes. On the plus side though, I thought it was a very nice gesture on Pete's part to honor the prize to the girl who was not present due to her family's medical emergency.
Your comments here have been softened so I will soften my response...surely you know that this can sound nothing less than ungrateful? I don't have a number of how many people were in that theater but I am guessing it was under 300....I don't know of anywhere else where you are given those odds of winning not one but 2 vacations. I am also sure those that received the $100 gift card appreciated it!