It's time to try a Disney Cruise. Let's start with the Dream! update pg 14

That's a shame that they dining room doesn't make the B&W to color change. I didn't realize it was a trait specific to the older ships either.

Either way, I'm glad you got to experience AP on both pirate night and a regular night. I'm sure it is probably the best "different" experience on pirate night too with as many things as they're capable of doing there.
 
Must be time to wrap this up...I believe there is a PreTrip to start...:thumbsup2

But remember its a SECR:rolleyes1

:hug:
 
IMG_9863_zpse68794ca.jpg

Cool!


Each of the production shows they do is fantastic and each is very different. This one is a must see if you are a Disney fanatic.

The shows will be a priority for me - if I ever cruise. ::yes::


The family that won had been winners a couple of times throughout the cruise so they graciously told the host to give the prize to us – DCL keychains for all of us!!!!!

That was nice. :goodvibes



But before Declan and I made our way to the cabin he wanted to do one thing that we hadn’t had the chance to do – play shuffleboard. So off to Deck 4 we went to play a couple of games before grabbing a final snack and turning in.

Such a simple thing, but a fun and memorable time for you, I bet.


Must be time to wrap this up...I believe there is a PreTrip to start...:thumbsup2

But remember its a SECR:rolleyes1

A secr....? :cheer2:
 


Such a simple thing, but a fun and memorable time for you, I bet.

A secr....? :cheer2:


He loves to play shuffleboard and with this ship being much bigger than any of the others we have cruised on, it was in a great place. Even better at 11 pm when no one was around (except the wind)..

He has no idea we are going this summer. We plan on telling him the day we leave, maybe as we drive into the airport.
 
Our last morning started early as we had the 6:45 breakfast because of our early dining time in the evening. We were back at Animator's Palette and had the standard breakfast fare. We got to spend one last meal with our new friends from Atlanta and everyone got to say good-bye.

Just before we finished eating they announced that the ship had been cleared and we could disembark at our leasure. So we finished up and made our way to the atrium to disembark. We were able to walk right off the ship into to the terminal and down the stairs to the baggage area and on to customs. Getting through customs was quick and we were soon heading out the door for the sad walk to the rental car shuttles. It was a it depressing standing there in sight of the ship but the good part was that this trip wasn't over yet. We still had a few days to spend in the bright Florida sun.

By 8:30 or so we had picked up our rental (brand new Camry Hybrid with 48 miles on it to date) and we on our way to Kissimmee to stay with the pooksma's family for a few days. Our plans included taking her parents to MK for their first trip ever and Declan was spending a day Universal with his Aunt and Uncle. It was his birthday present from them and he was pretty stoked to see Universal.

The drive to Kissimmee was pretty easy and included a stop at Downtown Disney with a quick walkthrough and the purchase of 5 one day tickets for MK. The stop did mess up my driving directions as we were all ready past the exit I was looking for but we just went to the next Kissimmee exit and kept going until we hit the route we were looking for. All in all we were at the house somewhere between 10:30 and 11.

Final thoughts from the cruise.

We had a great time on this cruise, just like the other two we have taken with Carnival. So many people on this board and others seem to relish in putting down different cruise lines and the people who use them. To us, a cruise and any vacation for that matter is what you make it. If you go in to it thinking it is going to be bad, it probably will be but if you keep an open mind and remember you are on vacation so just enjoy it, you will have a great vacation.

There are still some comparisons that I can make between Carnival and DCL.

The ships - We enjoyed all three ships we were on but the Dream was certainly the nicest, of course it was quite a bit newer as well. It was the biggest ship we have sailed but we didn't find it difficult to get around.

The ports - we have sailed out of three different ports and I have enjoyed them all as they are all very different. I did think the DCL terminal was much nicer than either of the two Carnival terminals.

Embarkation - All three cruises were fairly painless. Overall, DCl was better but only because of the experience of the actual boarding.

Food - In the main dining rooms pooksma and I both felt the food on Carnival was just as good and maybe better than on the Dream. The buffets though are definitely better on the Dream. There was a much better selection and the set up was also better as it created less lines.

Cabins - not a fair comparison given the cabin we had on this trip but we did like having the separate shower and washrooms, this was very convenient. The rest of the layout was similar but I did like having the bed closer to the front of the cabin and the sitting area but the doors to the verandah.

Service - it was very similar on both lines, we had no complaints.

Entertainment - The shows were very different. I think the main room shows edge goes to DCL but that may be because they did 3 different shows in 4 nights. We didn't spend much time in the lounges so I can't really comment on that but I did miss the Punchliners comedy club. I always looked forward to those shows on the Carnival cruises.

The rest of the daytime entertainment was very similar with trivia, bingo and fun little games.

Disembarkation - Other than hustling you off the ship as quickly as they could, the edge certainly goes to DCL. It was very quick and efficient. With Carnival you wait until they call your group so it can be just the opposite of DCL. You don't get up as early (except in Tampa where non-US residents had to go to customs on-board before breakfast) but you do have to wait a fair bit before you get off.

Overall, both cruise lines offer you great trips and enjoyable vacations if you allow them to. So who will we cruise with next, most likely Norweigan. :lmao:

Before all the DCL and Carnival supporters get out their pitchforks, Norweigan is the only line that does the cruise we are looking at. :)

So that's it for the cruise folks. I thank you for reading along and making comments if you were so inclined. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have and I invite you to take a look at all the photos from this cruise and our other WDW vacation in my Photobucket albums. You can find the link below.

One last note, I will add a bit of a report from our day at MK on to this report in a few days but this part did finish up the cruise portion of our trip.
 


I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise! The abandoned structure in Nassau, I am almost positive, is what is left of a tourist attraction called Coral World. There is/was one on St. Thomas (was damaged badly by a hurricane, but I think it has been repaired) and it was so successful that they decided to open one in Nassau. Unfortunately, the water around the Nassau area wasn't as clear, and didn't have the marine life, so it wasn't repaired after sustaining hurricane damage.
 
I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise. I especially appreciate the comparison of your experience on Carnival and DCL at the end.

I'm just impressed that you kept recent news events from swaying your opinions. :rolleyes1 :rotfl::lmao::rotfl2:
 
I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise! The abandoned structure in Nassau, I am almost positive, is what is left of a tourist attraction called Coral World. There is/was one on St. Thomas (was damaged badly by a hurricane, but I think it has been repaired) and it was so successful that they decided to open one in Nassau. Unfortunately, the water around the Nassau area wasn't as clear, and didn't have the marine life, so it wasn't repaired after sustaining hurricane damage.


Thanks for the information. It is a strange looking structure and it does seem weird to see it in the condition it is.
 
I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise. I especially appreciate the comparison of your experience on Carnival and DCL at the end.

I'm just impressed that you kept recent news events from swaying your opinions. :rolleyes1 :rotfl::lmao::rotfl2:


I wanted to do the comparison because there seems to be so many people who are anti Carnival and DCL is so much better just because it is Disney. Carnival's recent string of bad luck would never sway us. Many of those problems can (and have) happened to many lines.
 
I wanted to do the comparison because there seems to be so many people who are anti Carnival and DCL is so much better just because it is Disney. Carnival's recent string of bad luck would never sway us. Many of those problems can (and have) happened to many lines.

Agreed. :thumbsup2
 
Read your report today, and really enjoyed it!

Please pass along to your wife that after I read her description of the hot stone massage, I hopped right online & booked one for our June 1st cruise! Woo hoo!!
:)
 
Great trip report, thank you for sharing so much from your cruise. I especially enjoyed all your beautiful pictures. Great wrap up at the end too, and you are so right in saying a vacation is all in what you make it!
 
I wanted to do the comparison because there seems to be so many people who are anti Carnival and DCL is so much better just because it is Disney. Carnival's recent string of bad luck would never sway us. Many of those problems can (and have) happened to many lines.

Trent's honeymoon cruise is on Carnival. John says he's buying them survival supplies for a wedding gift, just in case. :laughing:
 

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