Just off the Dream.. Reviews & My little things to know

[floridaysmom]

Disney Dream 5/20-5/24, itinerary b

This is my review of the Disney and some things I thought I'd mention that I don't remember seeing on other reviews. I can get a little detailed (long winded) so I apologize in advance.

First of all, the ship is amazing. We had crummy weather and still had a wonderful trip. It was me, DH, DS(2.5) and my inlaws. We've all cruised other lines before (Holland, RC, and Carnival) but this was our first Disney Cruise and our first cruise with our DS.

We had an 11-11:30 time slot, got there about 11:15. They gave us boarding number 5 and were already calling 7 so we were able to walk right on with no delays. The ship was gorgeous and them welcoming our family really made it feel special. Guest Services was empty so I took the time to quickly drop of my items for signatures and sign up for our tasting. I highly suggest doing this as soon as you board..gotta love no lines.

Shortly after we went to Cabanas for some lunch...mussels, shrimp, crab claws...now that's a buffet! Something I noticed as the cruise went on, the front of the buffet was significantly more congested, hotter and more tightly seated than the back of the ship. I feel like where you sat really changed the experience. I found the back left corner (sure there is a nautical term for it) was the best area.

My son really wanted to go in the Nemo area after lunch so in our suits we went. I hate to complain about this area because it was so nice to have an option for our non-potty trained son and a huge reason for booking this ship but there are a few things to mention. PROS: It exist!!!, the water IS heated and my DS Loved it!! CONS: I You can't sit on a chair and let them just run around (unless they were maybe older) They let bigger kids in the area and it can get really congested. Parents really need to walk their kids through the area as they can easily be trampled by older kids. My DS took a hit from one of the large fish sprayers that a bigger kid was swinging around. It was a total accident and no one was misbehaving, I just think if the little ones can not go in the pools, the bigger kids should not be allowed in this area to keep it safer. Also there is a small slide which can get kind of dangers. Without any effort my DS would literally hydroplane off the slide after he slid off the edge. It was wet and slick that he'd go flying and I saw several near collisions as one kid was coming down the slide and others were walking in front of it. They have a worker there watching it, and they do a great job but its hard to predict how fast some of the little kids come sliding off that slide. I swore every time my son went down the slide he was going to break a leg after he slide off of it...ROUGH LANDINGS!

After the Nemo area we decided to go to our rooms. We went down at 1:30 on the dot and there was a good size crowd of people ready to do the same thing. At 1:35 we were allowed in. The rooms were beautiful, we had 7538 and adjoining 7540 with my inlaws. They were balcony rooms and I liked that we looked down on extended balconies rather the lifeboats. I am not saying the lifeboats would have ruined the view, just in my opinion I prefer not to look down on them.

Then we registered my son for the nursery and let him play in the Oceannears Club some as it was open house. I must say the Nursery was wonderful. It did have smaller kid stuff in there and it may not have been so enjoyable for a really mature 2 year old but my DS LOVED it. I'll talk more about that later, but feel free to ask me any questions you have. My son had never been in a daycare/nursery before so this was a new experience for me.

Our DS was a little cranky from having had no nap and the Muster Drill so we skipped the sail away party and enjoyed exploring a quiet ship. In a way I wish we would have tried the sail away party as this was one of our better weather days and I think it would have been fun. We still enjoyed our quiet time either way.

I had read conflicting info about the dining schedule for the Itinerary b schedule. I don't normally like to plan so much but with day care, I felt like I had to. First I thought we would repeat nights 3&4 with pirate night on Night 3, then I read that repeat nights were 2&3 and Pirate night on 2.. so I switched everything around...well guess what...it was the original plan so I had to go and switch everything back around. Not a big deal for most, but a little annoying after I had tried to work it all out before getting onboard.

That night we ate at the Royal Palace. I was a little nervous as so many reviews said that was their least favorite meal on the cruise...it was by far my favorite. I love french food and I thought they had so fun options. My husband and I both enjoyed the Escargot and Duck appetizers and we had steak and w/ lobster medallion for dinner. I loved the whole meal all the way around. I felt like we were a little snug in terms of how close the table was behind us, but the good food made up for it. I also loved that my son was able to order a child siZe steak as well as he doesn't always want the typical burger and nugguets. I noticed this was the case every night, there were always 2-3 child size entrees similar to ours on the menu as well as the traditional kid favorites. One little thing to mention, our waiter was trying to do a nice thing and got our sons order first to make sure he wasn't waiting for his food. While this was very nice, his meal came out before we even ordered our first appetizer. I don't know about other kids, but my sons clock is winding down once he eats his food, so I asked the waiter if he could try and pace our meal with our sons since there was no chance he'd sit for 2 hours after eating his meal in the first 10 mins. Our waiter was happy to accommodate and it was never an issue again.

Just after dinner, there was a trio playing great music in the lobby atrium. They had Disney cast members there taking pictures and dancing with the kids. It was, for me, a magical family moment watching all the dressed up kids bust moves next to the classy trio of instruments. I was shocked the kids were allowed to be so close to the instruments/singers. They were LOVING IT! My DS danced and charmed little "princesses" for at least 45 mins till we drug him out of there. I am not sure if they did this every night but its worth seeing if you or your little one likes live music.

Later we went to show Golden Mickeys. I must admit, I am not a big cruise show person, even when they are raved about. This one was actually very impressive. Maybe it was watching my son actually sit and watch a theater production or the quality of the show itself, but I really really enjoyed it.
Can't remember if it was before or after, but we also went over to Evolution to check out the family dance party. We were disappointed to find we were the only people in there. I found this to be the case for most of the "dance parties". We were often the only ones showing up which is why I stress the live music in the atrium.

After a long day it was time to head back to our room which was perfectly made up. They even set up a PNP for our son. I was concerned he wouldn't sleep in one as he's still in a crib but "over" the PNP thing, but he was so exhausted he fell right alseep. I used the red blanket on the bed (as well as my inlaws') to make a little padding for the PNP and then placed the crib sheet over the the cushion-creation. I wouldn't recommend this with younger ones, but my son welcomed that extra padding and didn't try to rip the cover off once.

The divider in the room is WONDERFUL!! My son often pops up while he's sleeping and if we're in the same room, he'll often cry at the site of us, having that divider was like he had his own room. We even pivoted the tv to the bed portion of the room so we could sit in bed and watch tv without bothering him. It was so nice. The demand channels were terrific. We could watch old classic animated movies or even newer movies and just pause them when we wanted to go to sleep and pick them back up the next day. My DS also really enjoyed seeing some of the classics he had not ever seen before and watch them at his leisure.


The beds on the Dream are "dreamy"! Super comfortable and just the bed you want to get all cozy in after a long day. I did find them to be a little on the short side...is that just me?!?!? I'm only 5'5" but I felt my toes off the edge at times. I do sleep with a couple of pillows so my head doesn't start at the tiipy top of the bed, but I don't have this problem at home. Either way it did not affect me having a wonderful night's sleep just thought I'd mention

Day 2 to follow.....

 

[disneyholic family]

enjoying your review!!

 

[triciari]

Sounds like a great trip! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[irishdadx4]

Shortly after we went to Cabanas for some lunch...mussels, shrimp, crab claws...now that's a buffet! Something I noticed as the cruise went on, the front of the buffet was significantly more congested, hotter and more tightly seated than the back of the ship. I feel like where you sat really changed the experience. I found the back left corner (sure there is a nautical term for it) was the best area.

The nautical term would be....aft, port side

My son really wanted to go in the Nemo area after lunch so in our suits we went. I hate to complain about this area because it was so nice to have an option for our non-potty trained son and a huge reason for booking this ship but there are a few things to mention. PROS: It exist!!!, the water IS heated and my DS Loved it!! CONS:... They let bigger kids in the area and it can get really congested. Parents really need to walk their kids through the area as they can easily be trampled by older kids. My DS took a hit from one of the large fish sprayers that a bigger kid was swinging around. It was a total accident and no one was misbehaving, I just think if the little ones can not go in the pools, the bigger kids should not be allowed in this area to keep it safer.

I'm sure that, due to similar feedback from guests since the first sailing of the Dream , this is the reason Disney added the Aqualab area on the Fantasy. That gives an area more appropriate for older children and adults to go for some water park fun, and Nemo's Reef will not be as crowded with the older kids.

Maybe during the Dream's first drydock period, which should be sometime in 2014, they will add the Aqualab feature, and some of the canopy/lounger upgrades on the fore decks that the Fantasy has now.

 

[floridaysmom]

Day 2 Nassau

I took the advice from other boards and ordered some room service coffee the night before to enjoy on our balcony..wouldn't you know...It actually was HOT! I was thinking it might be warm, but it was perfect! So nice to sip and watch us dock. Definitely a must!

We decided to get some breakfast in Cabanas (this is when we sat closer to the entrance in the tight area and were practically sweating to death only to find a quieter location in the back "aft" that we much preferred) Pretty much which you find on cruise breakfast buffets..skip the eggs and everything else is good, nothing really ever seems to be great but everything was good..

Later we did a little more exploring and made our way to the sports deck. It was nice, nothing over the top amazing, but we let our DS have a little fun in the put-put area. The basketball courts had teenagers using them, our DS wanted to "dunk" the balls for a bit but it was no place for a toddler with teenagers playing.

We then checked out Palo, Remy and Merdian...so nice. This was unfortunately the only time we saw this area the whole cruise. The views are amazing. Made me really wish we had kept that 4th night reservation.

Then back to the room where the men went off the ship to have a cigar and my MIL, DS and I went back to the room to relax on the balcony till we put my son in the nursery. Once again, more room service for my DS's lunch....what a nice feature.

I later dropped him off at the nursery where he literally ran from my arms to the gate. He was in love with this place. When I picked him up later in the day they gave me photo they took of him. He cried his eyes out, not when I dropped him off, but when we left. He loved the interaction and we were lucky there were a couple of kids his age in there.

My MIL and I made our way over to the adult pool, it was nice and quiet as a lot of people were at port. We really enjoyed just relaxing pool side. I do understand the concern for the pool area not having many loungers in the sun. There were only about 4 chairs directly in the sun and they seem to be the same 4 people in them the whole cruise. We had no problem going up a deck, but I do understand why I've heard some complaints.

After we picked my DS from the nursery, we went back to Nemo's Reef until we decided it was time to clean up for dinner.

I am sure a lot of people are going to give me heat for this, but this night our dinner was at Animator's Palate...and I was let down. I was SO excited about Animator's Palate...but it just left me and our table mates kind of 'ey'

I am not sure what the real problem was but I felt like we weren't in the action. We could never really tell when Crush was in the area and which screen was really ours. We couldn't really hear so instead it just seemed like some commotion was happening at dinner. I found it to be kind of loud because of this, but I have a 2 year old so I wasn't bothered, but it something to mention. Good news, the tables did seem more spread out as compared to the other RP.

My dinner was kind of lousy that night as well. I did order the salmon tartar which was very good (if you like a strong smoke salmon flavor) but I ordered the cod and it was just an odd overall dish. The fish seemed under-cooked. I didn't mind by my MIL sent hers back and it came back the exact same way so she didn't eat anything. It was on a bed of something mashed (can't remember now) but I do remember the veggie did not seemed cooked enough and there were uncooked pieces that were not mashed.. it wasn't horrible, just odd and didn't really impress at all. Other than me and my MIL everyone else seemed pretty happy with their food that night. We did let DS have a mickey bar that night so that was pretty funny watching him eat it and get it all over himself. I did get the cookies and ice cream sundae that night which was very good.

We skipped the show that night and put our DS back in the nursery for a few hours of adult time. The same trio band played in the D lounge...I really liked them but I can see how people might find them a little slow. We ordered wonderful cocktails from Pink but felt that everything had a pretty mellow feel about it. I felt like you almost had to whisper in the adult areas..not that I want a raunchy loud crowd, but something with a pulse. Regardless, I enjoyed listening to the jazz trio and sipped on some pink champagne from the PINK (very tasty which it should be for $19/glass)

 

[mesaboy2]

That night we ate at the Royal Palace. I was a little nervous as so many reviews said that was their least favorite meal on the cruise...it was by far my favorite. I love french food and I thought they had so fun options. My husband and I both enjoyed the Escargot and Duck appetizers and we had steak and w/ lobster medallion for dinner. I loved the whole meal all the way around. I felt like we were a little snug in terms of how close the table was behind us, but the good food made up for it. I also loved that my son was able to order a child siZe steak as well as he doesn't always want the typical burger and nugguets. I noticed this was the case every night, there were always 2-3 child size entrees similar to ours on the menu as well as the traditional kid favorites. One little thing to mention, our waiter was trying to do a nice thing and got our sons order first to make sure he wasn't waiting for his food. While this was very nice, his meal came out before we even ordered our first appetizer. I don't know about other kids, but my sons clock is winding down once he eats his food, so I asked the waiter if he could try and pace our meal with our sons since there was no chance he'd sit for 2 hours after eating his meal in the first 10 mins. Our waiter was happy to accommodate and it was never an issue again.

My understanding is this is done so that if kids (older ones anyway) want to go to the Oceaneer Club and Lab when they are done eating, they can. At least on Dream cruises last summer, there was a group of CMs that came into each MDR during the meals to escort kids there so the parents could have some adult time. That your wait staff adjusted with no issue sounds like Disney service to me.

 

[Princess Sleepy]

Enjoying your report. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I'm also enjoying your report!! Talk away

We are on an Itinerary B next month!!

I'm so glad you had a great time!

Heather

 

[Joanna71985]

Loving your review

 

[scrapycruiser]

Wonderful review ! We'll be on the Dream next month ! I'm waiting to hear more. Thanks !

 

[Toria]

Enjoying your TR. I am so happy that all the food we had while on board was great. Sorry you did not have the same experience.

 

[CaLuCa]

Thank you for writing this. It is very helpful. We have just turned 2 year old twins who also have never done daycare/nursery other than church nursery. My ILs are coming too. (We also have a DD9, but she is the least of my worries...lives for vacation and activities.) You've done a lot of the things I am thinking about, so it was great to read your thoughts.

Anxiously awaiting more!

 

[floridaysmom]

0Day 3 at Sea

We started this day off again enjoying a coffee we ordered from room service the night before on our balcony. Once again, this was such a nice experience to be able to enjoy and I appreciate the tip from previous threads.

We took things a little slow this morning seeing how we weren't going to be able to use the pools and I knew the crowds would be at their heaviest so we just relaxed in our room for a few hours. For those of you who have asked how much time you spent on your balcony and was it worth it...ours was for sure! I think it just all depends on what kind of cruise experience you want. For some they spend a lot to be on this cruise to begin with so they want to get the most out of all the ships amenities, traveling with older children or none at all will surely make this easier. For us, this cruise was booked for relaxing and having options for our 2 year old so sitting on our balcony (that we did spend extra for) was a huge part of our cruise experience.

After a few hours, we decided to take another ship tour with our little one in his umbrella stroller (so happy we brought the cheap fold-up one it worked perfect rather our bulkier city mini) . We took the forward elevator to the highest deck it would go (i was trying to find the deck 14 outlook bar) to get some good views. We ended up on a super quiet deck with loungers and relaxing music. I looked around for any signs to say it was for adults only and only saw one to our left behind a glass wall in which people were smoking. A worker held the door for us to get out on the deck so I figured they would have let us know if we were in the wrong spot. I never did find the outlook bar on deck 14..oh well.

We strolled around and got some terrific views from this forward top deck. There were very few people out there and our son was super content in his stroller so we just took our time. As we made our way back out to the bar we were told this was in fact an adult area. oops. The bartender gave us our drinks and didn't usher us out of there but we quickly made our way back on the elevator to leave once we got our beverages. The area was properly marked if you were coming from the stairs, but if you were coming off the elevator, it was made to believe the adult area was just beyond the frosted glass, not the entire deck itself.

After that we got our son some lunch and it was time for him to go back to his favorite place on the ship, the nursery. We dropped him off at 12:30 and he couldn't wait to be lifted over the gate to play basketball and play music with his buddies. This always made leaving him for some adult time so much easier. After this we made our way to the adult pool with our inlaws. One of my favorite bartenders from pink was at the adult bar so it was fun to see her again. I feel like there were a lot of stand-out bartenders on this cruise. I am terrible with names, but they always made us feel like we were their favorite guests.

The weather was so-so this day..partly cloudy but we did have a little sunshine in between so it was still nice enough for us. The pool had quite a few guests but I don't feel like it was overwhelming which was surprising considering it was the sea day. It would have been nice to hear a little steel drums or some other tropical music, but the atmosphere was nice enough to enjoy.

We eventually made our way over to Cabannas for lunch. Before this point, I really had not been by the children's pools during peak time. I know I had read it over and over that the pools were too small and they were packed beyond belief but those reviews did not prepare me for just how packed they were. It was unlike anything I had seen on another cruise. At this point I must have said it a dozen times that I never felt the crowds and was very impressed with how they managed to spread everyone out, this was NOT the case with the kid/family pools. I think this would be the only thing to deter me from going on this ship again as my child got older. At his current age it wasn't an issue, but if he weren't tall enough to ride the aqua duck it would be a long day in that environment. I really want to try Disney again when he's older, so maybe we'll do the wonder or the magic as I hear they are better in that area. It would be worth it in my opinion.

After lunch we made our way to Pink for our wine tasting. This was so much fun. It wasn't crazy times but the sommeliers were really wonderful. The class was education and very classy. I wasn't sure what to expect, whether it would be a "joke" kind of class or if it would be closer to something you'd expect in Napa and having been to Napa it was more like a traditional wine tasting you'd expect with a range of reds, whites and even a taste of champagne. yum!

After our class we just relaxed a little outside on Deck 4..what a gem of a location on the ship. This might have been my favorite part of the ship which is funny because you have the lifeboats hanging over your head, yet it had a classy feel about it. I like the look of older elegant ships and while I love the modern amenities, I like to know you're still on a ship and that deck ties in that nautical beauty just perfect. Plus I feel like it was a great deck to let our son run around. I felt like he was safe and the crowds were always light so it was one of the few places he could run a few feet from me and we could give him some breathing room.

Then we made our way to a character meet and greet. This was really great as we only had to stand in one line and make our way to each character for pictures, it was the traditional characters of Mickey and his gang. Disney did a great job with organizing these meet and greets..I was most impressed. It wasn't the chaos I was expecting.

Later we picked up our DS who of course cried when we picked him up as he didn't want to leave. They gave us photographs they took of his fun times which was so nice to have as you are not allowed to photograph in there otherwise. We wanted our son to nap before the pirate nap so we drew the curtain and all cuddled up in bed for a nice family nap.

We tried to get our son dressed in the pirate outfit we bought him but he wasn't having it so on we went to dinner in regular clothes (oh well, not going to "make" him wear something he doesn't want to on a trip we planned around making him happy) Dinner was at the Enchanted Garden that night. This was actually my favorite of the dining rooms. We had a table overlooking the ocean and it had a warmth about it I just love. Again...I love always knowing i'm on a ship so seeing the water over our shoulders was such a delight.

The pirate night food was actually pretty good compared to what I had read. I had this vision of ribs and big helpings of bone-in chicken, but it had the same elegance as the other nights options. I ordered the crab cake and conch chowder of some sort..it was terrific!!! I really, really really enjoyed it soup and it was piping hot which is such a plus when serving mass quantities of food. My DS was getting a little testy during ordering so I didn't get to really stare at the menu and ordered the shrimp and scallop dish. I didn't realize it came over a bed of linguine so which I'm not a crazy pasta person. It was just okay. My MIL did order the mahi and it was really great. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their dinners this night.

After dinner we went to the Pirate Deck Party and I'm so happy we did. This is when you could really feel the Disney Magic and made me wish we had gone to the sailaway party. I am sure if you've seen the shows multiple times they could get old, but for us first timers it was terrific. It was the perfect time in the evening where the sun was starting to go down and it was just the perfect setting. They put decking over the pools (impressive) so there were plenty of places to stand on deck to watch the show (and they showed it on the big screens) Little ones were on shoulders watching the shows, older ones were playing pirate sword fight, and everyone was chanting yo ho ho...it was such pirate fun!!

After the deck party it was time for the physical comedy show. We made our way in. The show was pretty good, we didn't stay for the whole thing as it just wasn't holding our DS. The gentleman started out juggling tennis rackets and it was fun, but a lot of his other tricks stemmed from these rackets and it just wasn't enough "change" to hold our 2.5 yr old. He did have a lot of family-friendly humor with his tricks that the older kids seem to really enjoy.

After we left the show, we made our way to the Pirate Family Dance Party in the D Lounge. This was again an event that wasn't well attended but we still made the best of it and our DS had fun dancing with the few kids that did attend.

We realized we still have over an hour before the actual Pirate Party and DS was loosing energy so we decided to walk around deck 4 a little more and let him run around. He had fun playing with the shuffleboard and we had fun just watching him.

Unfortunately despite our best attempts, our little guy was just warn out so it was back to the room for a nice bath and getting ready for bed. The split bathroom in the rooms are really fantastic and the tub is HUGE! I felt like my DS could swim in there. I think it was deeper than our tub at home. If you had too young ones you may even be able to bathe them both at once, I think there was that much room.

We checked our clock and it was 10:25, perfect timing to try and see the fireworks from our balcony. I tried to find a station on the tv that might be airing the deck party, no such luck. It would have been fun to watch. I am not sure if this channel exists, I never found it, but it would be nice for them to air some of the events going on like other cruiselines do. They did show some of the Broadway shows, but I didn't see anything beyond that.

The great news was were able to watch the fireworks from our balcony as they were on starboard side! What fun to watch fireworks with the ocean crashing below us!! After the show it was time for bed!!

 

[floridaysmom]

Thank you for writing this. It is very helpful. We have just turned 2 year old twins who also have never done daycare/nursery other than church nursery. My ILs are coming too. (We also have a DD9, but she is the least of my worries...lives for vacation and activities.) You've done a lot of the things I am thinking about, so it was great to read your thoughts.

Anxiously awaiting more!

I highly recommend the nursery. I really think you will be able to tell if your child is happy there or not. There were kids when we would go who would run to the gate and practically beg to be taken out (this would have broken my heart and would have not likely used it again) but there were others, like my DS, who just loved it and therefor I felt good about taking him there, as though he was getting the same fun experience that I was looking to have.

We did not bring a portable DVD player, but our table mates did and they shared it with our DS. That was huge and I do recommend it. I thought it might be annoying to other guests so I left it at home, but the dining rooms are loud enough that you didn't even notice they were there.

You will have a terrific cruise and your 9 year old will for sure love it! I was double thinking so much before we went and was so anxious we would come back and not feel it was worth the month..it truly was a wonderful family vacation.

 

[Dreamer04]

Thanks for posting..can't wait for the next update!

 

[floridaysmom]

Day 4

This was by far our most anticipated day on the cruise, to see the highly sought out Castaway Cay. Being on starboard side of the ship gave us beautiful views of the island as we backed in. Too bad the cloud cover didn't give it that picturesque moment we had hoped for.

We quickly got ourselves together and had the men grab some quick breakfast for us at Cabanas to eat in the room and we were off the ship by 9:15. Even with all the winds and clouds it was obvious this place truly is a paradise. I think you really have to remind yourself you are on an island that was nothing but sand and trees before Disney came and did their magic. It was very impressive.

We took the advice of others and picked up the tram and took it to the 2nd stop at Pelican Bay. We then grabbed a plastic wagon for my son to sit in with our beach goodies (he loved this little ride). We were able to find 4 chairs pressed up against the wooden fence just before the cabana only section. I recommend this area as we made our own nook and had no one to the right of us.

Unfortunately the weather just never let up. We tried to let our little one enjoy the beach a little but the water was pretty cool and the wind just didn't make for a pleasant time. I should re-iterate we live in Orlando and have the fortunate ability to visit beaches at least twice a month so for us is wasn't the best conditions. I am sure for someone who lives in a more northern or land-locked environment they still had a wonderful time. A konk cooler definitley still made it feel like you were in paradise.

Made our way over to Cookies for some bbq lunch which was really nice, ribs were yummy and the potato salad was delicious. After lunch we took our son over to spring a leak. This area was more open the Nemo and while at first glance wasn't as glamorous I found it to be a better area for my son. I could actually sit and watch him run around and enjoy his time. The water was not heated as it was on the ship but I don't think that would be necessary on a sunnier day. For this day, with the winds, it was kind of cool, but that didn't stop our DS from having a good hour or so of non-stop fun! I highly recommend this area for little ones.

The rain was starting to drip and the winds were picking up so we headed back to the ship around 2pm. I really had more plans for the island and wanted to explore more and take a bike ride but the weather just wasn't allowing t his.

We just sat on our balcony for the next couple of hours, enjoyed the views (and the clouds rolling in was actually a cool thing to watch) and let the little guy get some rest. Once again we ordered some snacks from room service and chilled.

We did attend the going away party in the lobby atrium. I thought it would be more of a free-for-all dance party with the characters but when we got there we noticed single filed lined (different that they had done previously) of people in line anticipating which character would be where when they came in. Fortuneatly we picked the right line and our DS got to see Mickey one last time.

Shortly after our DS started to sneeze and it was evident he had caught a cold so made plans with our inlaws that we would skip dinner and head to the buffet separately taking turns staying in the room with our son who just wasn't feeling himself. In a way this sounded kind of nice as we didn't have to get all dressed up and gave us more time to relax.

We were SO DISAPPOINTED when our inlaws came back saying the buffett was closed and they had to eat burgers for dinner. Apparently disney closes their buffets the last night of the cruise to prepare for the next trip. This was so disappointing a new thing for us as we've been on 7 cruises on other lines and never heard of this before. I truly think this should have been written in bold somewhere on our Navigators because we had already missed our dinner.

Our head waiter was VERY kind and did get us a plate from the 2nd seating so we did not have to eat burgers for dinner which I was very thankful for so again Disney gets a thumbs up for their service accommodating us, but I can't deny I am still baffled that they close the buffet the last night. We typically use the last night to relax and often choose that night to skip the formal dinner, next time we'll know to adjust our schedules accordingly but something I am surprised I have not seen mentioned on these boards before.

After dinner we relaxed in the room and let our DS get some rest. I did go out later and work our tips. (disney requires you either pay cash or stand the in line at guest services to add to your card, they do not automatically add it as with other lines) I also took this time to take some pictures of the ship at night...it sure was beautiful.

I was walking the ship around 9:30 and saw something really great...the pool deck actually had "life" after dark. Most cruises we've been on the pools are all closed after dark and you see little activity up there. The Dream had people everywhere. There were kids playing in the pool watching a movie on the big screen as people were in "short" lines to ride the aquaduck. It was awesome to see people being to still make the most of what was left of their vacation.

EMBARKATION:

Hats off to disney for this. We had the early 6:45 seating which I dreaded but ended up not being a big deal. Our breakfast was delightful and we walked right off the ship, quickly grabbed our bags and were in line at Customs in minutes. We live about 50 mintues from the port and were HOME by 9:15..that was pretty amazing!!!

All and in all, I would defintley recommend the Dream and Disney overall, although having now gone on the Dream, I think I would like to try one of the older ships as some of the places where I hear the Wonder and Magic excel mean more to me. The areas that the Dream is known for Aquaduck, the 3-d movie theater, and the Animators Palate, I either didn't get to enjoy or didn't enhance my trip any, although I am sure for many this is what makes the dream really stand out. I think I'd prefer a quieter, smaller boat with all the same Disney service and magic than some of the glitz and glamour on a larger ship.

Thanks for reading...as mentioned welcome any questions you may have!

 

[Dreamer04]

Thanks so much for writing. Your positive outlook is obvious, God bless and keep you.

 

[Pesky]

thanks for your report! I'm checking out the Dream now as we are looking to likely shift to a 4 night cruise instead of a 7 night. Great to have the input of someone with small kids!

 

[ascardino]

Thank you for your detailed TR. We are taking our first Disney cruise with 3 daughters as part of a larger party of adults. My youngest will be almost 16 months and the night we have a reservation at Palo, we made a nursery reservation. But that is the only one we have made in advance. Is it easy to just "drop" off when you want to or do you need advance reservations as I have read elsewhere? Also, I have read that you are limited to 10 hours on a 5 day cruise which does not seem like very much not that I intend to drop her off every day for hours but just curious.