Winter escape.... 4 night Dream Jan 8 to 12th trip report

[jnsma]

We had a great trip on the Dream from Jan 8 to 12th. This was our 4th Disney cruise and 2nd on the Dream. There are 4 of us traveling, me, DW, and twins (DS7 and DD7). Here is day 1 of the report, sorry it seemed to get long….

We flew in the day before and drove to Melbourne Beach to spend the night and see my parents who rented a place there for a month. It was a bit out of the way but it was good to see my parents, swim in the pool (cold) and play on the beach before the cruise. We normally fly in a day early and stay at the Nick hotel, this was a bit more low key, fulfilled the family obligation and relieved me from any guilt. Sunday morning we watched the fishermen at Sebastian Inlet and played on the beach in front of my parents place.

Day 1 - Embarkation
We arrived at the port at 12:30. Personal opinion: it is a great time to show up. It is just after all the people that want to be first on the ship have cleared out but before the majority of people start showing up from MCO or WDW. We had a car so needed to park it in the garage. The line of cars for drop off wasn’t too long and we were directed to drop off the baggage on the curb outside the gate. We’ve always done the dropoff inside the gate and I’d let my wife and kids check in and I’d meet up with them. Since we were outside we stayed together and walked across the bridge to the upper security location.
Having that upper security check is nice as the line at the ground level seemed pretty long. Our last trip the bridge over the road wasn’t open, and I had to wait in a pretty long line after parking the car. The bridge and upper security check was a nice improvement. The line at security was fairly short and moved pretty quickly.
I have to admit there is 1 downside to the upper security location…. There is just something magical about coming up the escalator from the front door. It is a slow ride but the excitement builds as you come up and the room opens up before you. I didn’t get the same feeling just going around the corner on the upper level. Oh well, life is full of trade-offs.....

The checkin line was very fast and efficient. I don’t think this took longer than 5 minutes from getting into line to being done. Our photos were already on file for the KTTW card, so we didn’t even need to do that.
Next we went to get the kid’s wristbands for the kid’s club. (Warning RANT coming) The line here moved very slowly. OK, I understand some people don’t pre-register their child for the kid’s club and need to fill out paperwork. BUT they should fill out the paperwork at the tables before entering the line and not at the counter when slowing down everyone behind them. Aside: I’ll fill out every piece of paperwork possible on-line and before I get to the terminal to speed up my checkin. Maybe they didn’t understand they had to fill anything out to register. But there must have been 3 different families in front of us that filled out the paperwork while tying up the checkin desk. I would think Disney would tell them to fill this out and come back to the front of the line or something. Anyway, this checkin seemed to take a while, maybe I was just ready to get on the ship and it only seemed longer than it was. Once we got to the front of the line, we got the wristbands quickly and were off.
From there we walked right on the ship. There may have been 1 or 2 families in front of us for the boarding picture and to be announced.
We were at our room just before 1:30, as we had to wait a couple of minutes for our room to be ready. So just under an hour from pulling into the port to getting to our room, that is pretty good. We dumped our bags, changed into bathing suits, headed to Cabanas for lunch (more on the food later) and hung out by the pool for the a couple of hours.

Before the muster we went back to the room to check out our loot. Every trip we get the kids each a sand pail from the perfect gift. Next time, I have to remember how much stuff Shirley packs in one of those “small” buckets and only get 1 bucket for the both of them. I order them because

• it is fun for the kids to have something in the cabin when they show up and we always put that it is from Mickey
• the snacks and water come in handy on the islands (or at WDW after the cruise)
• we use the buckets on Castaway Cay to play in the sand

I should mention that today was my wife’s birthday and I ordered the birthday package for her. So the room had streamers, a hanging thing and a birthday magnet on the door. All the decorations were nice and she enjoyed them, we even took the magnet home. The package also came with a cake that we took with us to dinner. The cake was nothing special, it was very light, white with white frosting. It had a little chocolate that said “congratulations” as opposed to happy birthday, which I thought was odd, maybe we got the wrong thing??
Meanwhile I got to open the castaway club bag. Same stuff as always, the bag, 2 bottles, 2 rice krispy sandals (love these!!) and a key chain (anyone want it? it made it home and is sitting in a drawer unopened, pm me)

The muster was quick and painless. We did some exploring around the ship afterwards and it caused us to be late to the sail away party. Therefore we didn’t get a good location and it was difficult for the kids to see. The party is fun as always but it does seem to be the same thing as the year before. I have to say that the Captain (or whoever) definitely gave us a sampling of all the different horn sounds. I think he blew all the different songs as we were pulling out (and also a couple of other times on the trip). Love the horn!

Before dinner we did some of the detective game around the ship. I think the magic pictures and the detective game are both pretty cool and very well done. Last year my kids had a little trouble holding the card at the proper angle but this time they were old pros. I was a little surprised that it was the same 2 adventures. I would have thought they would be updated periodically as I imagine it is just software. Also, it is great that it isn’t the same for everyone, as you can imagine with 2 kids they each want to do it and they had different clues.

Dinner at the Enchanted Garden. We had one of the round booth tables in the middle. Last trip, we had a really bad table around and stuck in the corner, so it was really nice to see everything this time. We were the first table as you walk in so you could watch everyone come and go. Also, we could watch the entrance walls change from daylight to dusk and evening, which was a very nice effect. As I mentioned, it was my wife’s birthday and we brought her cake to dinner. After dinner, the waiters/waitresses sang happy birthday and brought the cake over. All very nicely done and my wife really enjoyed being a birthday girl on the ship (this was a selling point in “justifying” another DCL cruise).

After dinner, the kids went to the club, my wife did some unpacking then went for her birthday spa treatment. I walked around a bit, had a drink and then went to get the kids and put them to bed. Our kids go to bed earlier than most others on the boat (normally 8:30-9). If they stay up later, mainly DS, he’ll progressively get crankier later in the week, so we try as much as we can stick to their bedtime. This means we miss the nightly shows and 1 adult needs to stay in the cabin. The other adult can go play but it isn’t as much fun. Definitely not ideal, but it helps the daytime peace and works for us.

We had a category 4 cabin for the extra space. In the past we’ve always gotten a cabin for 5 with the Murphy bed. We’ve tried bunk beds before (not on the ship) and neither of the kids wanted to sleep in the top bunk. Well this time they didn’t have any cat 4 cabins with a Murphy bed available so one of them had to sleep up top. I was nervous putting them to bed as I didn’t know how it was going to turn out. DS did a great job and loved being on the top bunk. Disney does a great job with the little things like putting the sky scene (with Peter Pan constellations) above the top bunk.

Hopefully this wasn't too long for day 1......

 

[SharonK0527]

Great first day! Looking forward to hearing more about your trip

 

[jnsma]

Day 2 – Nassau

DS is always the first to wake up. We have perfected the procedure where he wakes up and must stay in bed to at least 6:45 (originally taught as 6 4 5, thank heavens for digital clocks). He would wake up and play his DS with his headphones on until 6:45 then wake me up. The night before I would put clothes for he and I in the bathroom. We’d quietly get changed and sneak out of the room while the women slept.
Let me tell you, there are very few people up and about at this hour.

On the last trip we’d play Goofy golf every morning, but this time all the clubs and balls were put away and didn’t come out until after 8. This was too bad as the golf was a good quiet diversion for us in the morning. Don’t think we didn’t play a few rounds at other times but just not first thing and by ourselves. One other point about the Goofy golf, it has held up very well. We were on one of the first Dream cruises last year, so it was brand new and I was curious to see how it would do with all the people and weather.
With no golf, we played basketball day one, shuffleboard the next and went to the arcade the last full day. Around 7:30, he’d be ready for breakfast so we headed into Cabanas. Cabanas opened at 7 but only with a very limited selection, then at 7:30 it would have everything.
After breakfast we went back to the room and the females were up. They went for breakfast while we packed up for Nassau.

I had booked a room at the Comfort Suites so we could go to the Atlantis and the waterpark. We’ve done this 3 of our 4 cruises and have had a great time. The ship docked and we were cleared promptly at 9:30. We probably got off about 10 to run the gauntlet of cabbies.
I understand the cabbies are trying to get as many people in their taxi, but I don’t really want to wait too long (yes, I’m impatient). We walked outside, grabbed a taxi and our driver did a good job of quickly finding another family (3 people) and then giving up when he couldn’t find 2 more to fill every seat. I tipped him well to compensate for not having a full bus (or not keeping us waiting).

Going the CS route as opposed to the DCL excursion or Atlantis hotel adds a little pain (taxi and walk between), but is definitely worth it. I got a room for $150 + tax and fees, it ended up being $215 all said and done. Meanwhile the DCL excursion is $199 for 1 adult and the cheapest room at the Atlantis was ~$350. It seems pretty silly that we have to pay electricity and housekeeping fees when I never actually got a key to the room, but I knew that going in and it is still the best deal. Checkin took 5 minutes, were given a receipt to bring to the Atlantis for wristbands and were told if we wanted to go to our room come back at 4 and it would be ready. HAHAHA, no thanks. It is another 5 minute walk to the Atlantis.

A side note about the weather….. The last 2 cruises have all been in January so we are taking a gamble on the weather. I don’t think you can guarantee it will be warm enough to swim and I think you run a higher risk of not being able to dock at Castaway Cay. The last 2 years we have lucked out and had great weather, which is why we decided to gamble and go again this time of the year. I’m always looking to get away from the cold of the northeast and the prices in January are some of the lowest. Well, we lucked out again this year. It wasn’t hot but certainly warm enough to swim. Both days in the Bahamas it was in the upper 70s and sunny.

We walked the grounds at the Atlantis and out to the waterpark. To get to the waterpark, you need to walk past the ray and fish tanks. They had some amazing manta and other rays swimming around. They were huge!!!

The first pool we got into was quite cool and I was nervous how the day was going to go. It ended up that the rivers and slides were warmer while the pools seemed cooler. Next we went to the river, not the lazy river but the wave river (I’m not sure the exact name). It is like a lazy river but has rapids and huge waves in it. It was a lot of fun and DD and my favorite, the waves were too big for DS and my wife and they quickly got out. We went on a couple of the smaller water slides. Mostly, it was fun just playing with the family in the pool. The pools on the ship are nice but crowded, so it was great to have plenty of room to play together. By the end of the day we walked over to another section of the waterpark where there was a normal lazy river and another large pool. This section was empty so we floated around in solitude and played for a while longer.

While at the Atlantis, we had a light lunch. Basic food choices (burgers and hot dogs) by the pool at very high prices. No problem getting a taxi back from the Atlantis as there is a line of taxis waiting. We never did make it back to the CS for that room.

That night we had dinner in the Royal Palace. I have to admit the room doesn’t do much for me. It is nice and everything but just a big fancy room you would find on any cruise line (I realize that some people prefer this to the others, to each their own). I had the Spinach Souffle, which was very good. We also ordered an escargot to get the kids to try one. DS ate one while DD would not. I’ve got to give him a lot of credit for trying it and he said it was ‘OK’. I thought they were delish, but isn’t everything when it is smothered in butter and garlic? I had the Avocado-citrus salad, which was also good. For the main course, I had the rack of lamb, which was OK, too well done for my liking which dried it out a bit.

After dinner DS went to the kids club while DD and I went to the pool and AquaDuck. It was cool at night but the pools and aquaduck were plenty warm. We ran between the pools and the aquaduck as the water was warmer than the air, also inside the funnel was warm as it was sheltered from any wind. The best part was there was no line for the aquaduck, maybe 3 pairs in front of us at most each time we got to the top. We must have ridden at least 5 times, getting tired of walking the stairs. Eventually we settled into Donald's pool in front of the funnel vision that was playing the BCS championship game.

 

[SharonK0527]

Sounds like a great day! I like your idea of booking a room at CS instead of paying the inflated excursion prices.

Looking forward to Day 3!

 

[jnsma]

I uploaded a bunch of pictures if you are interested:
http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/ae300/jnsma/dcl 2012/

A few notes:

The Christmas stuff hadn't been put away so I started thinking of next year's Christmas card
Lots of pictures of some of the random art around the ship, also lots of Animator's Palate
The last picture is as we were leaving the ship, the face says it all
​

Enjoy.

 

[SharonK0527]

Nice pictures - thanks for sharing!

Love the "last day" face - looks like somebody had a good time and wasn't ready to leave

 

[jnsma]

Day 3 – Castaway Cay

I had reserved a cabana for today so hoping for great weather. First the history of the cabana, we did it on our last trip when we traveled with my in-laws. My MIL was in a wheelchair and had an oxygen machine that she needed to use every so often, so the cabana allowed her to sit and watch us play on the beach and plug in her O2 machine as needed. In the planning of this trip, we were trying to decide between going to the Atlantis or getting a cabana. I told everyone that it is too expensive to do both, so which would they prefer. Of course it was split evenly down the family, DS and my wife preferred the comfort of the cabana while DD and I liked the fun at the Atlantis waterpark.
When we got to the 90day mark, I reserved the cabana so we had the option and I could cancel it later when we decided which to do. At some point later, my wife was on-line reserving her spa treatment and saw that I reserved the cabana. She was very excited, so the decision had been made. Meanwhile every so often my DD would ask, “Do we get to go back to the Atlantis?” Then that good price showed up at the CS for the Atlantis, so I booked that as well. Yes, I caved. For a Christmas present I wrapped the reservation receipt from the CS and cabana for each of them.
Don’t get me wrong, the cabanas are really nice, I just don’t think they are worth the $$. It was great when my MIL was with us. Part of the issue with our family is once we do something special, it is hard to go back to standard. Yes, spoiled.

We had both the kids write a postcard for their class at school and we mailed them from the Castaway Cay post office as we got off the ship.
The tram was packed when we got there, so we decided to walk. It was a beautiful morning for the walk and we got to peak in the couple of shops along the way.
We checked in at the cabana hut, next to the tram stop, and walked over to the cabanas (they offered to golf cart us over but it was busy taking another family). The concierge staff was there to welcome us as we walked up and they pointed out all the features of the cabana. There were 2 people looking after all the cabanas. I’ve read stories about what the concierge staff does for some people, but I think we were pretty low maintenance. They came and checked on us a number of times, gave us fresh towels once and took our dishes after lunch. Other than that, they were just there in case we needed anything.

Like I said the cabanas are really nice. They have extra towels (no need to bring them from the ship), a fridge stocked with water and soda, some fruit and snacks and suntan lotion to use. The hut is nice to get in out of the sun as it has a couch and a few chairs. There are 2 loungers on the deck. There is also an outside shower to wash off with after the beach. Outside there is sand toys to play with (in addition to the ones we had) and your own personal hammock, which was really nice for a few minutes. With the cabana, you also got free snorkel and bike rentals. We did the bike last time but ran out of time this trip.
The part that I like best is that the beach is practically empty so you have plenty of room to play and build sand castles and there are plenty of chairs for everyone. Also, there are plenty of free floats that you can just walk up and use.

We spent the morning playing on the beach and in the water. The water was cool, bordering on cold. It took a while for the adults to get all the way in while the kids jumped right in. I think most people from the south (or not quite as insulated as us) thought the water was too cold to go in. One thing to note about the beach by the cabanas is that the water is extremely shallow. At no point within the roped off area was it deeper than 5 feet and as the tide went out it was more like 4 feet. I don’t recall it being quite this shallow last year, maybe Hurricane Irene brought in some extra sand?

We walked over to Cookies II for lunch. There was no line at 12:30 when we walked up. The food at cookies suffers from being cooked in large quantities and being left out, it really starts to dry out. That said I thought that both the chicken and fish were very well seasoned and would have been great if it were a little more juicy.
The family vote was to bring it back to the cabana to eat. The table in the cabana are really low so it made eating kind of awkward, but we managed. As I said before, the concierge came and got our plates when we were done.

The afternoon was much the same, lounging in the sun, building sandcastles, wondering where the waiter from the bar was and when he’d stop by, and floating in the water. By the end of the day, I definitely felt that I had gotten enough sun. Before each trip I always think that we miss so much at Castaway Cay since it ends up as a family beach day. But doing it again this trip made me reconsider as we don’t get enough beach days. During the morning walk, DS asked where the kids club was and if he could go. I guess he had fun with us too because he didn’t ask to go all day.

That night was the pirate dinner and we were at Animator’s Palate. I should say that I really like Animator’s Palate. It is fun, totally unique and keeps the kids amused and I was very happy that this was the restaurant that we would repeat on the cruise. BUT, I definitely see the other side where some think it is too loud and want a more “nice” or “refined” dining experience. During pirate night they showed some images from the Pirates of the Caribbean on the screens. It definitely isn’t the show you get on the standard night (our next day), but it is entertaining.
For dinner I had the Pearls of the Caribbean (crab, shrimp and salmon), followed by the jerk chicken salad, both were very good. Then for the main course I had the shrimp and scallops over pasta, which was just OK, the sauce lacked in flavor while the seafood was good. My wife had the beef short ribs which she said had great flavor, just too fatty.

After dinner we did the early pirate party. The party was the same as last year. It is fun to see the characters up on the main stage performing and all the kids playing along.

After everyone was asleep, I snuck out to watch the fireworks and the party on the top deck. As it was getting closer to party time, there was another ship off to the side that appeared to slow down and was almost waiting to catch a free showing of our fireworks. I don’t know if the captain was waiting for them to be off that side for safety or if it was because he didn’t want them to get a free show, but the fireworks did not start until the other ship had passed in front of us. Once the fireworks got started they were excellent. It amazes me what Disney (WDW, Epcot and DCL) do for fireworks on a nightly basis, meanwhile it is getting harder and harder for cities in our area to afford to put on 1 show a year for the 4th of July. Anyways, the fireworks were great, better than I remember from previous trips. They probably lasted a good 10 minutes.
There was also a little show before the fireworks with Captain Jack Sparrow. This, I found kind of lame. I have to admit, I like the show from the Wonder I saw a couple years ago where Mickey fights Captain Hook and zip lines across the pool to save the day.. I know that the earlier party covers the Mickey side of it. But it really seems like they are trading 1 really good/fun show with 2 that aren’t quite as good.
After the fireworks there is a dance party on the top decks. Given I was solo, it wasn’t as much fun, so I didn’t stay long.
Before turning in, I took a walk through Cabanas to check on the pirate buffet. It looked like a pretty nice spread. There was a mix of desserts and finger/bar type munchies. I LOVE the turkey legs at WDW and they had them. I was still stuffed from dinner and heading to bed so couldn’t think of eating one, but was tempted.

 

[jnsma]

Day 3 – Day at Sea

DS and I played at the arcade this morning. The arcade is very small and only has a few games.... and the puck for the air hockey table was missing. That said it amused him longer than normal so we checked on the girls to see if they were up and wanted to join us for breakfast.
We all decided to put on our bathing suits so we could go directly to the pool after breakfast.

As we were eating, we noticed a lot of boats in the general area, just circling just off shore (we were guessing either Freeport or Nassau but not sure). Ends up they were helping the coast guard searching for someone that had gone overboard on another ship. At some point in the morning the captain made an announcement what was going on and that we had been released from the search. No word if the person was found.

We got to the pool shortly before 9 and it was empty! The aquaduck opened at 9 and everyone got a chance to ride, everyone loved it! My wife is a bit claustrophobic and was nervous about it. Beforehand she referred to it as the human habit-trail. Coinsidentally, the day before it was closed for cleaning and inspection, there were 2 people walking inside and inspecting each seal, it kind of drove home the human habit-trail point.
There was essentially no line the first 30-45 minutes and we each of us must have gotten 5-10 rides in. Then suddenly there was a line forming and it quickly got to the point where you could see the line outside the funnel. We switched exclusively to the pools and Mickey slide. I was glad we got up there early and DS and my wife got to ride.

About 10:30, the kids were done in the pools and wanted to go to the kids club. We dropped them off and came back 2 hours later to see if they wanted lunch. DS said no and that he had eaten something there (in reality he was having too much fun). DD said yes and went with us to Cabanas for lunch. After lunch I went back to get DS and he was ready to go and now he was ready for lunch (I knew it).
He and I went to the pool deck and got him a hot dog. I love the outdoor food selections. We don’t make use of them that much but they are nice to have. I’ll stop by and grab some fruit while at the pool. They have burgers, hot dogs, pizza for a quick lunch like now for one of the kids or as a snack. The sandwich and salad selection also is quite good, especially if you are by the pool. When we were at Cabanas for lunch earlier, DD couldn’t find much she like and just wanted a simple tuna sandwich, so we went outside and grabbed her one and brought it back inside.
The ice cream machine is always busy and great for an afternoon snack.

That afternoon we finished the detective game. Then my wife and kids wanted to go look in the stores, I stopped at the bar in the atruim and told them to come get me when they were done.
We decided to go to the early Believe show before dinner. DS asked if he could go to the kids club instead…..whatever. The show was excellent. Everyone really enjoyed it. Hopefully next trip the kids will be able stay up a little later and we can do more of the shows.

Dinner was at Animator’s Palate again, this time with the full show. We were in the middle of a section where we could see a screen in each direction. Unfortunately, we were pretty far away from each screen so Crush wouldn’t be able to talk to us. (Aside: we did the Turtle talk with Crush at Epcot after the cruise and Crush talked to DS and then asked to talk to his parents). The Crush interaction is amazing, I think it is a lot of fun. In addition to Crush, there are most of the characters from Finding Nemo swimming by. The kids especially like the fish playing volleyball with the pufferfish. My wife likes the starfish showing up and getting stuck on the screen.
For dinner I got the smoked salmon tartare and the rock shrimp cheesecake and the trio of veal, all of it was excellent. I thought it was the best meal of the trip. My wife had the golden breeze drink to start and loved it. She could have eaten anything after that and not cared! She had another later in the night and asked the bartender for the recipe.

After dinner we gave the kids the choice between one last visit to the kids club or the aquaduck/pool. DS said the kids club (SHOCKED) while DD said both (DOH). We dropped them both off and went to the room for a little bit to organize for packing, essentially move things from where they sleep so we could pack as they go to bed. Then I went back to get DD to go to the pool. Again, it was empty. Tonight was a bit colder and it was WINDY. We got in a couple runs on the aquaduck, then on our last run we had to wait a few minutes for the tube to come up. Apparently the person down low was having trouble handling and loading the tubes into the elevator because of all the wind. After a few minutes one came up and we were off. After that run, we went to the pool. Not 5 minutes later I saw them closing the aquaduck, apparently due to the wind and the troubles they were having loading the tubes in the elevator. Pretty cool we were one of the last to ride on the cruise.

The kids went to bed and we got the bags out in time for me to go to the ‘see you real soon’ party. The party is essentially a character meet and greet. The characters and princesses are introduced one by one to a round of applause, then they all go to different spots in the atrium where people get their last autographs and pictures. After about 20 minutes, there is a little song and they wave goodbye one by one again. It is a very nice last night event.
I watched them come out and then went to my now favorite bar, the Bon Voyage, in the atrium. After drinking from plastic cups by the pool/beach they have really nice heavy glassware and good drinks. The bartender remembered me from earlier (more than 5 hours ago) and remembered exactly what I had. I took my drink and strolled a few laps of the outside deck as the meet and greet was going on. I ended up doing an extra half lap as all the doors on one side of the ship were locked due to the wind. Then I watched the characters say good bye.

Afterwards, I really didn’t want things to end so I decided to take 1 last lap around the top deck. But would grab a drink for the road. The bartender was packing up as I walked through the lobby, so I was going to skip it and just go on up. But he called to me and said that he was still open…. Twist my arm. Then he says, “if you are going to stay up, I’ll stay open”. To avoid the appearance of having a problem I say “thanks but this is it”. I gave him a nice tip and thanked him for a great trip and was off.
There were still a few people swimming but otherwise the top deck was very quiet and still very windy. A nice walk around to cap off a great trip.

 

[tessasmom]

JNSMA you have a knack for writing! I loved your report! It really brought back memories of our 12/4 Dream sailing...ahhhh, the memories. You described things perfectly and I could actually see what you were describing. Thanks for taking the time to share! I'm off to check out your pics now!

 

[Cari2109]

Really enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jnsma]

Day 4 – Disembark and Random Thoughts

Since we had early dinner, our scheduled breakfast time on the last day was 6:45. We really didn’t think that was going to happen, so we said our goodbyes and thankyous the night before and planned on going to Cabanas for breakfast. We were heading to Legoland for the day, so we wanted to get off reasonably early but weren’t in a huge rush. We were up at Cabanas ~7:15 with all our stuff.
I seemed to recall on previous cruises of the lack of variety at the buffet the last morning , but today I thought the variety was still very good, maybe slightly less than a normal day. There was only 1 side of Cabanas open but at this hour there wasn’t any lines.

After eating we took one last walk across the pool deck and down to the gangway. There was a slight backup getting off, but not too bad.
We went down the escalator and grabbed a porter to help with the bags. We do not travel light and although the kids try to help, in a crowd like this they do more harm than good. There was a pretty long line at customs. Our porter said there was a special line for people with porters but Disney doesn’t stop anyone from using it, so of course it all evens out. Anyways, the line for customs moved pretty fast.
Our porter brought us all the way to our car. Previously they had always dropped our bags by the curb with my wife and kids and had me drive around and pick everyone up. My porter thought I had gotten lazy ones in the past.
I think we were out of the garage by 8:45, not bad.

Here are a few random thoughts not already covered (hard to believe)….

After the cruise we had 4 nights at WDW. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (Kindani). I really like the combination of the 4 night cruise and 3 or 4 nights at WDW (Monday was MLK day so we had 4 nights). The combination gives us a sampling of both without overdueing one. Last trip we did just 1 day at Disney followed by a 3 night cruise. Let me say I was really grumpy when I had to get off the ship and go straight to the airport. The whole trip was too short. Also, if I’m on a 4 day cruise, there is almost no chance that I’m flying home on a Thursday…. I’m staying the weekend to maximize my time away.

Cabanas – I like cabanas for breakfast and lunch. I like the pod system over the traditional buffet. You still see people queuing up as they come in from the pool as if it were a traditional buffet. If you come in from the stairway in the middle, the person with the towels usually tells you which side is less crowded. I also like being able to look out the widows as opposed to going to one of the restaurants below for breakfast or lunch. The variety and quality at the buffet is always quite good. I do find the scrambled eggs kind of funny because they can be entirely different from 1 pod to another depending on how long they’ve been out. Lastly, the dinners always seem to take so long that for the other meals I don’t want to have my kids have to sit through being waited on.

Servers – Our room steward was great as always. We aren’t the neatest people, especially having 4 in a cabin and he worked around the mess as best he could. Like clock-work, he would be just finishing up the nightly turn down just as we came up from dinner to change into our bathing suits for the evening swim.
Our dining room staff wasn’t quite as good as we were used to. They weren’t bad, it just seemed a little slower than normal.
Our waiter was OK, very friendly but seemed to be a step slower than previous. He also seemed to disappear for long periods of time. I think there were 2 issues causing it. First, some of his tables showed up late. He would take the orders of the us and the other tables that showed up on time and go get the appetizers. As he was doing that, the other tables would show up and he’d have to greet them and take their orders. Not having everyone in sync seemed to slowed things down (understandably and not his fault). Second, I remember hearing last trip that the distance from the kitchen to Animator’s Palate was much further than the other restaurants. The wait was more noticeable there and that may have been the cause. To be fair he was very nice and very social once the rush was done and he definitely works very hard.
Our assistant server was very soft-spoken and didn’t seem confident in her job yet. I was assuming she was new. She talked very softly that it was hard to hear her once the dining room got loud. On the first night I asked for a recommendation for a wine, something other servers did once they saw me looking at the list. Now, I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to wine so if she said anything with confidence I would have gone with it and been fine, but she really didn’t know and was going to go ask someone. Instead I just picked something. When things got busy, she seemed overwhelmed. All that said, on the last day she was working at Cabanas and stopped by our table. She was so much more relaxed and it was great to talk to her then. Hopefully, she will settle into the position in the dining room.

New staff – there were a lot of people training and “earning their ears”. On boarding day, I ran into a group of about 50 people that appeared to be getting a tour of the ship. They were still in street clothes but had on nametags with a tag that said “earning my ears”. I assume they are bringing on a lot of new people for the Fantasy. I think during the remainder of the trip I only ran into 2 people with that tag on duty.

Palo – Normally we do the brunch on the sea day but it was sold out when I tried to reserve it on 90 days out. I tried also on board but didn’t get up there until after dinner and it was way too late. We could have done dinner, but my wife didn’t really see anything on the menu that she’d like, she likes basic, not overly fancy food. To make up for missing Palo, we got a babysitter on the last night at WDW and went to the California Grill for dinner and MK fireworks. That was a great night.

Aquaduck – as you can tell we loved it. The rules were different the last trip. That trip kids had to be 48 inches to ride and they both just missed it. They changed the rules that you can ride with an adult if you are 42 inches or taller or alone if you are 54 inches. From what I’ve read the issue is more about weight than height, there needs to be enough weight in the raft to push you up the small hills. DD was so bummed last year that she didn’t get to go, but certainly made up for it on this trip. Of course I'd recomend you go at non-peak hours as we never waited in a line longer than 3 minutes.
Also, there was one operator that was excellent (I am so bad with names). He would give everyone high fives as they got in the raft and do a count down before sending you off. During those empty night time runs, he really gave it some extra excitement.

Pools – The pools are too small to handle the number of people, especially mid-afternoon on the first day or sea day. It worked out fine for us as we swam at off times. It is also nice to have the Mickey slide there. Both my kids made use it during the busy times when the pools and aquaduck were crowded. My kids didn’t go to the splash are but it looked great for little ones.

Characters – I think our kids have been saturated (spoiled?) with character meet and greets on previous cruises and character meals at WDW. They had no interest in going to any of the meet and greets that were going on on the ship. That said if we were out and about and a character was there, they’d want to point them out and have a look, just not wait in line. Also, when in the kids club they played with Stitch and Woody and talked to crush.

One of the reasons we love the Disney cruise so much is that they do all of the little things really well. One really little things is having the people that work on Castaway Cay wave goodbye with Mickey hands. We definitely had our favorites like the aquaduck, pools (with funnelvision), kids club (for DS), animator’s palate, castaway cay, the detective game. Yeah, you pay more for a Disney cruise but you get these extras and more.

All and all, it was a great trip. The weather held, yet again, for us. I’m sure next Sept/Oct, I’ll be dreading the cold that I know is coming and working to justify another cruise. I’ll also be regretting the fact that I didn’t make a dummy reservation and get the discount when we were on board.
Anyways, that’s all, thanks for reading, it has been fun remembering all the things we did.
Cheers.

 

[bluejasmine]

Loved your report! That early morning tradition with your son is amazing, such a great dad, im sure he will always remember those mornings!

 

[mattkev2001]

Sounds like a blast. We are scheduled for the 4 night Dream Caribbean cruise in April and was wondering if there is a "formal dinner night". I have not seem it mentioned on the website.

Did you have a formal dinner night?

I do recall reading somewhere that on formal dinner nights, shorts are not allowed. Is that true for kids?

Thank you,
Chris

 

[jnsma]

was wondering if there is a "formal dinner night". I have not seem it mentioned on the website.

Did you have a formal dinner night?

I do recall reading somewhere that on formal dinner nights, shorts are not allowed. Is that true for kids?

On the 3 or 4 night cruises there is no real formal night. I don't think I ever saw anyone in a suit jacket (maybe if going to Palo or Remy).
Besides pirate night, I don't recall seeing anyone dress special on any of the nights. It probably says in the navigtor what the nights are supposed to be but I honestly didn't pay attention.

Kids can get away with nice shorts. I think mine wore them once (maybe twice) and he always wore his sneakers as we didn't bring any dress type shoes for him.

 

[chudson98]

You mentioned you were heading to Legoland after you got off the cruise. We are doing the same thing in 3 weeks. I was wondering what your impressions of Legoland were and if you have any advice?

 

[jnsma]

You mentioned you were heading to Legoland after you got off the cruise. We are doing the same thing in 3 weeks. I was wondering what your impressions of Legoland were and if you have any advice?

Good timing. I just posted a review on the another forum:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2874037

Some general advice:

1) Find a promo code to get a discount. The prices at the gate are really high. There is a pepsi code where you get a free child with a paying adult.

2) Consider the day you go. I read a number of reviews from people that went over Thanksgiving week or between Christmas and New Years where they said the lines were extremely long. We went on the Thursday we got off the boat as opposed to waiting for the weekend (MLK weekend) for this reason. We had 1 ride that was 15 minutes everything else was essentially walk right on. Of course it is a trade-off between a busy day here versus a busy day at one of the other parks (assuming you plan to do other parks). The rides at legoland do not have the capacity that most of the rides at Disney do, so I think if there are lines they will move pretty slowly. No matter when you go, I'd get there when the park opens.

3) Legoland is geared to younger kids, probably 5-10 is the best. I think if your kids are over 13 they'd run out of things to do pretty quickly.

4) Spend time to look at the lego creations around the park. There are lego built people and animals sprinkled around the park that are quite amazing. Also there is a mini-land area where there are different cities made from legos.

Have fun.... we did!