Brutally Honest Review: Disney Cruise to Northern Europe and Norwegian Fjords
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- Опубликовано: 23 сен 2023
- Breaking down our mediocre experience on the Disney Dream for the Northern Europe and Norwegian Fjords itinerary.
#travel #disneycruise #disneydream #disney #norway #europe #cruise
I'm from Ireland and I did the 7 night Norwegian Fjords on The Magic in 2022 and the 4 night Spain on The Dream in 2023.
Theres a good few Vlogs from the Norwegian Fjords on The Magic in 2022, and also from 2019 which could have helped manage your expectations regarding the European theming for the character outfits. Disney has more French and Spanish character outfits as there are multiple cruises to those regions, where as the Northern Europe and Norway cruises are one off and unique. On my recent Spain cruise, the characters were mainly in the 25h Anniversary outfits, and Pirates.
As regards the merchandise, The Dream of Europe 2023 range, we didnt even have that in 2022, thats a brand new range for the European summer season 2023. Its a bit unrealistic to expect Disney to produce a whole merchandise range just for 1 or 2 specific cruises out of a 5 month season. Also the The Dream of Europe 2023 merchandise range has been all over social media and vlogs, so again you could have managed expectations about that before the cruise. I did, I knew exactly the type of merchandise would be on my Spain 2023 cruise and I bought one of the The Dream of Europe 2023 pins and jersey as it was a unique one off range only available for a limited time.
I agree your ports were not the stereotypical Norway ports, but again you could have managed expectations by researching on Google maps. I did for both my cruises. I used streetview on Google Maps to "walk" the ports before my cruise. Its also a common mistake to think that Norway is like Alaska, its not. You would have loved the 2022 Norwegian Fjords on The Magic, we did have those amazing views. This is where planning and research play a big part, and not just expecting the stereotypical views because its Norway.
Regarding the food, again you are comparing and expecting what you got in Alaska. Europe is not America. There are different venders, different products available and very likely Disney has to adhere to European Food Standards which would all play into the availability of various food items and menu items. . Again theres lots of Vlogs from the 2022 Norway cruise which show the food and MDR menus. The menus are also on Disney Cruise Blog.
Regarding the crew. The European summer season has been somewhat challenging for the crew this year. The first time in Europe, new ports, different length of cruises than in the Caribbean / Bahamas, as well as a very different mix of passengers. Its no wonder the crew may have lost some of the Disney Sparkle when their job has been made so much harder by issues beyond their control. Comparing the crew in Europe to the crew in the Caribbean is just not realistic.
Regarding the shows. This was the first time The Dream has been to Europe, and for the majority of passengers on all of the summer cruises this year, it was their first time on the ship and first time seeing those shows. I get it, you have been on all the ships, but for most Europeans, the only time they will be able to do a Disney cruise is when a ship comes to Europe.
I totally get your frustration about the Stavanger port. This was a port on the 2022 cruise and we were right in the centre of town. I felt so sorry for you guys when I saw that you would not be where the Magic was in 2022. I got some amazing sunrise photos of Stavanger from The Magic. I had the same issue as you with lack of info about shuttles on the Spain cruise. Our port was Bilbao, but the ship actually docked in Getxo 30 minutes drive from Bilbao. I phoned Getxo port and they told me there would be a shuttle and told me where the drop off / pick up point would be in the town centre.. I rang DCL and they told me to take a local taxi or like you, book the DCL excursion. They did not have the shuttle information that the lady in Getxo port gave me. This seems to be a common thing with DCL for Europe cruises, that they do not give the phone agents info about the complimentary shuttle buses for ports which are a distance from the main town / city.
Northern Europe does not have a year round cruise season, so the ports are built for cargo ships and ferries. The cruise ships have to fit around the cargo shipping schedules. Its very different to Caribbean and Bahamas where the ports are purpose built for cruise ships and have all the infrastructure walking distance to the ships.
Overall I think the summer 2023 European season on The Dream has been a steep learning curve for Disney. My Spain cruise had a lot of issues, different to the issues on your cruise. There seems to be a big disconnect to what Disney is selling and what is actually provided on the European cruises. The local logistics especially need to have better communications. I know on another cruise one of the Norway ports had issues with a local cruise industry protest which meant that all excursions were cancelled by local venders at the last minute and passengers had no alternative excursions.
Let us know if you watch our vlogs from this trip! 😊
Yea and the crew was good but we connected more with other cast members and servers from other cruises more than this particular cruise as well.
We have vlogs coming out. We were on that cruise too.
We felt the same in a few ways not our most magical trip.. sad about no frozen night, watery drinks and the selections were low in Cabanas, and merch was low stock. And the mix of priate night games, color spin show and frozen menu ... they had time to do everything on its own night
So funny we were on the same trip!! Will definitely check out your Vlogs! Maybe we'll be in the background :)
You should have gone on Norwegian Cruise they have Elsa, merchandise custom to the region, authentic Norwegian food and they take the scenic route next to Elsa’s Castle.