Freaking Out

[scrapbookmomma74]

Just remember, for every person who writes to complain, there are probably hundreds who haven't written anything because they liked it. People are much faster to write up a bad review.
That being said, we've been on 8 Disney Cruises, including 3 on the Dream.
Is it our favorite ship? No. Did we have a lovely cruise? YES!
One of the things I don't like are the short itineraries, that would apply to any of the ships, I want to be onboard longer than 4 nights.
The Dream is a gorgeous ship, and its a Disney Cruise, so where is the wrong there?
If I had a choice, I would choose a LONGER cruise, not just a different ship, every time. But if you don't have a choice, and the Dream works for you, then absolutely keep it and have a blast!
Be sure to do the Aquaduck at night (less lines and a TOTALLY different experience!), and also the MidShip Detective Agency at least once. (You CAN have 2 badges and work on both mysteries at the same time.)

 

[NickyKnack]

I just wanted to thank all of you for helping me feel so much better. =)
I'm not the type to expect Mickey and Minnie to sit down at my table and dine with me unless I paid extra for it.

I found the food on the Magic and the Wonder to both be acceptable, and Palo to be amazing... but I wasn't disappointed because the MDRs didn't "live up to" Palo either.
I have a good idea what goes into making food on the scale they must for the MDR and given the situation I find they do extremely well. So as long as the food on the Magic, Wonder and Dream are comparable I'll be fine.
I Did hear that we can ask for specific types of servers since we're concierge - so I think I will request someone who speaks English as a first language... just because they only issues we've ever had came down to language barriers since I suck at understanding strong accents.
Oh, and I expect the servers to be efficient at both service and general conversation, but I don't expect to walk away with a new best friend. I'm a people person, I like to have conversations with everyone.

 

[jahber]

Don't let anyone take away your excitement! We just booked our 3rd Dream cruise (last minute) after sailing on the Fantasy and the Wonder. We've loved all the ships, but the Dream is "home" because it was our first ship. We love the Dream and even after 4 cruises, our kids still yelled with excitement when we announced this one

 

[bumbershoot]

So many people are talking about how bad the Dream is

And so many people are saying the opposite. And have been since you were beginning the planning of your cruise...

So....I would have gone to head server after first MDR dinner to speak about slow, inattentative service. And enjoyed all there is to enjoy on rest of cruise. Life is short.

Of course, once wonders how they are supposed to both let guests get to know their life stories AND be quick and efficient at getting food out? Seems to me you should choose one to hope for.

I Did hear that we can ask for specific types of servers since we're concierge - so I think I will request someone who speaks English as a first language... just because they only issues we've ever had came down to language barriers since I suck at understanding strong accents.

OK well now I have to say...ooh good luck with that one. I'm not sure that they tend to be from places that have English as a first language. However they try hard to make sure the servers can communicate. Our FAVE CM, from our first DCL cruise, was our assistant server. He had tried to be a server once, but his English wasn't good enough so he bumped back down. They seem to be pretty good at that.

I think with concierge the choice is more in the place in the dining room, not necessarily the language the server speaks. I could be wrong, of course!

 

[dandjfla]

Our first cruise was last March and we had an amazing 3 night cruise on the Dream! So much so that we are going again in 9 days. Don't cancel it! Our servers Alex and Richard were great!

 

[MND]

Reading this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3189430 has got me a little freaked out.

So many people are talking about how bad the Dream is... should I cancel my trip in April and switch over to the Magic? We're staying concierge if that makes a difference. And it is a 4 day instead of a 3 day, and of personal note we enjoyed our last 4 day more than our 7 day.

So if you think the Dream is going to SUCK, what makes you think the Magic is not going to SUCK or SUCK less?

Mike

 

[Postal68]

We took our first Disney Cruise(and our first cruise ever) on the Dream in April of 2012. We loved it so much we went back to the Dream this past October. It's wonderful, don't have any hesitations. Especially if it is your first cruise, a 4 day is the perfect length to see if you like it. From all I have heard a 3 day is too rushed, and we found the 4 day a perfect length for us.

We want to try the one of the classic ships, but we really don't want to do a cruise longer than 4 Nights, but we might try a 7 nighter in 2015. We already booked a dummy date so we have some wiggle room.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Everyone has different expectations. The things mentioned in that post wouldn't have ruined my cruise. I sure wouldn't expect a three night cruise to be a "trip of a lifetime" either.
Ask yourself, are the things the OP in that thread mentioned very important to you? Are you looking to make friends with servers and have the most amazing meals you've ever had? If so, maybe a longer cruise on a smaller ship my be more your speed. maybe even a *gasp* different cruise line?

 

[STLEdge]

Villains Tonight on the Dream is my favorite show

I'll echo the other posters - we just got back from our second cruise on the Dream a few weeks ago. It's all what you put into it. The couple at the table next to us at dinner spent the last evening complaining to the server about everything that went wrong for them on the cruise. Life is too short to spend your vacation complaining. It's a Disney cruise. You are going to have a great time. Don't try to overanalyze it and let the vacation come to you - you won't be able to do everything in 3 nights; so enjoy what you can and book another cruise onboard to do the things you miss on this one.

We felt like 3 days was way too short, but we still had a great time.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Although I get flamed on CC for being 'negative' (mainly by CCL cheerleaders and a few here too), I have had only glowing things to say about my Dream Cruise as did my friend. We are all going on Magic in May because its the new ship, new shows, better pricing, and perfect timing. Actually, I cannot ever think of a time in my life where I have ever sailed the same ship twice (on any line.) So now we have done Dream, next is Magic and my dream is Fantasy.

But if you haven't done Dream yet, I wouldn't change unless you could get major less money off. I didn't think you could change with concierge anyway?

I loved my Dream cruise! I give it a 98% grade and Castaway a 95% (only points off were tram incident.)

 

[Rai's Mommy]

Our first cruise was a 7 night on the Fantasy which we absolutely loved and I was nervous that our 3 night on the Dream this past August was going to disappoint based on the reviews that I read. We had a great time I had also convinced a friend and her husband to take their family on that trip and they rebooked onboard. Our servers were very good and kept all four kids at our table entertained. The only thing that I would have liked to change would have been having at least one more night on our cruise. We are activity crammers and could have used a bit more time to enjoy the ship