Just off from a Dream three-night cruise - short cruise report.

[stkgator]

Mar 25-28

1. Bag drop-off, Covid Test (PCR), parking, to walking on board was less than 60 minutes!
2. I was told there were 2,200 passengers.
3. Tables in the MDRs were still widely-spaced, similar to previous cruises since Covid restart.
4. Cabana's still has a limited food selection served by CMs.
5. Masks only required when walking through the PC Terminal and in the theaters.
6. It was open seating in the theater, with NO enforced spacing. No food or drink and masks required. Both Believe and Beauty and the Beast were shown.
7. Castaway Cay port-call was CANCELLED:-( The wind and tide were too strong to safely dock. The captain made three attempts, two around 8 am and another around 10 am, but was unsuccessful. In my opinion, CC is the absolute best part of a Bahamas cruise and so was sad to see that we were not able to dock.

 

[MrsScooby]

Mar 25-28

1. Bag drop-off, Covid Test (PCR), parking, to walking on board was less than 60 minutes!
2. I was told there were 2,200 passengers.
3. Tables in the MDRs were still widely-spaced, similar to previous cruises since Covid restart.
4. Cabana's still has a limited food selection served by CMs.
5. Masks only required when walking through the PC Terminal and in the theaters.
6. It was open seating in the theater, with NO enforced spacing. No food or drink and masks required. Both Believe and Beauty and the Beast were shown.
7. Castaway Cay port-call was CANCELLED:-( The wind and tide were too strong to safely dock. The captain made three attempts, two around 8 am and another around 10 am, but was unsuccessful. In my opinion, CC is the absolute best part of a Bahamas cruise and so was sad to see that we were not able to dock.

Was Palo Brunch available on your cruise?

 

[Jenlynn3]

Mar 25-28

1. Bag drop-off, Covid Test (PCR), parking, to walking on board was less than 60 minutes!
2. I was told there were 2,200 passengers.
3. Tables in the MDRs were still widely-spaced, similar to previous cruises since Covid restart.
4. Cabana's still has a limited food selection served by CMs.
5. Masks only required when walking through the PC Terminal and in the theaters.
6. It was open seating in the theater, with NO enforced spacing. No food or drink and masks required. Both Believe and Beauty and the Beast were shown.
7. Castaway Cay port-call was CANCELLED:-( The wind and tide were too strong to safely dock. The captain made three attempts, two around 8 am and another around 10 am, but was unsuccessful. In my opinion, CC is the absolute best part of a Bahamas cruise and so was sad to see that we were not able to dock.

Was there a sailaway party ?

 

[randumb0]

There were a lot of creators on the cruise. Were you one of them?

 

[stkgator]

Was Palo Brunch available on your cruise?

Yes! We had Palo brunch while in port in Nassau. This is still the "post-Covid" brunch where everything is table service (no buffet).

 

[stkgator]

Was there a sailaway party ?

Sadly, still no Sailaway party☹

 

[stkgator]

There were a lot of creators on the cruise. Were you one of them?

Not me. But I was told by a CM that there were a lot of bloggers and influencers on board this particular cruise - which was noticeable as it seemed that there were many passengers performing various antics while talking into their phones/cameras

 

[jujubiee4]

Not me. But I was told by a CM that there were a lot of bloggers and influencers on board this particular cruise - which was noticeable as it seemed that there were many passengers performing various antics while talking into their phones/cameras

Do you know why?

 

[TestingH2O]

Do you know why?

Disney has a group of creators that they partner with and they hosted all of them for a day at the parks, then on the cruise, then again at the parks. I think they try do their hosted stuff in batches.

 

[Dug720]

:-( The wind and tide were too strong to safely dock. The captain made three attempts, two around 8 am and another around 10 am, but was unsuccessful.

Thank you for acknowledging the reason AND that the captain tried. They don't WANT to miss the ports - especially Castaway. But sometimes there just is no safe way to dock. And even if the skies look beautiful and the ocean seems calm, the currents underneath can just be too strong to make it safe.

I know it's disappointing. I had a Double Dip over my birthday one summer and the first day, while we we able to dock, thunderstorms - BIG thunderstorms - rolled in and just sat over the island all day. They ended up closing the gangway and bringing crew and the few people who had gotten off and sheltered in a bathroom back by golf cart. Seeing the island, being docked, and not being able to get off was torture. I think we all wished that we had just skipped it - but most of us realized that the bridge team honestly thought that the storm was going to be one of those quick and out things. The crew rallied and scrambled and added so many characters on board and some extra atrium games and trivia. People who understand that things happen make it a lot easier on the crew.

 

[stkgator]

This is a picture I took during the third attempt to dock. The churning water is from the rear-engine thrusters fighting both the wind and sea currents which are both coming in from the left-side of the photo. But you could tell that the captain was unable to keep the ship from being pushed to the right. The ship is roughly parallel with the dock in this photo, with the thrusters trying to push the ship to the left. The waves breaking on the breakwater are much much larger than they look in the photo.

I also heard that there were five wedding couples on board - two ceremonies were held on board (one at the Grand Staircase) with three scheduled for CC. I can't imagine that sadness that they must have felt.

 

[Dug720]

Yeah, sadly it's a chance that you take - there is never a guarantee of making a port, and with the very narrow and specific channel into Castaway, the possibility IS real. If not getting there is going to absolutely ruin things, you're better off picking another island and doing destination rather than a cruise.

 

[Drfate102]

Yeah, sadly it's a chance that you take - there is never a guarantee of making a port, and with the very narrow and specific channel into Castaway, the possibility IS real. If not getting there is going to absolutely ruin things, you're better off picking another island and doing destination rather than a cruise.

Truth. Our last cruise, there were strong winds and the Captain made the decision to get to Castaway the night before. We docked around 9:30ish. Unfortunately, the winds were so bad the next day, everything on the island was closed, including the beaches and they didn't serve lunch on the island either. People we able to get off and take pictures and sightsee.