A Mom, 12 Year Old & a Sausage on a Dream Voyage Jan 12! Complete 2/28!!

[Tracerr00]

Joining in !! We sail in April and I can't wait !! Looking forward to reading more of your trip to see what I can learn, and to of course see your photos And your sausage .... LOL

I definitely had a lot to learn when it came to cruising so I hope that I can help you out a little bit!

Following! I am sailing for the first time ever in Feb (3 weeks!!!!), and I am anxious/excited about the cruise

You will have so much fun!! We were first time cruisers as well and I learned a lot by reading reports here on the DIS. I learned lots of great tips that I never would have known about!

I'm joining in. Great start! I really want to visit Harry Potter some day too.

Thanks so much! We really loved Harry Potter. We brushed up and watched all of the movies in the weeks before we went there so we could appreciate it a little bit more. Let's face it, we are big HP geeks and we know it!

we were on the Dream on the 12th as well.. waiting to read what you thought. We totally enjoyed our cruise!! Wish we were there this weekend as the Chicagoland area is under a lot of snow!

We really enjoyed it as well. The weather wasn't hot but it wasn't cold (sometimes a little bit chilly but nothing like the weather at home!! ) so we loved it. We don't have a ton of snow right now but it sure has been cold since we got back!!

 

[jenseib]

Love the Aquaduck, but that water that shoots behind you is so cold!
I'll have to remmber that about online checkin. We are going to be traveling with 6 families total (including us) and I am their travel agent, so I'll try to be sure we all do online check in fairly early. When I sailed the Dream last Spring, online check in didn't make a difference to your boarding number, but I hear it has changed now.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

great start - Eilee looks really pretty and too grown up

WWOHP looks fantastic and enjoying your cruise so far but friends who only eat pizza and chicken nuggets = waste at disney. I would have eaten so much better :
Waiting for more................

 

[cschnell]

/Ship_1st_glimpse.JPG[/img]
So we decided to find our room (even though we couldn’t get in until 1:30). We found our room and placed the magnet on the door (I’d ordered it off of ebay because I’m not crafty enough to make my own!).

I am taking my first Cruise on the Dream in March, we will be in room 2536, right next door to your room - I am interested in hearing about the room, view, location, and ease of getting to ship activities from here. Thanks.

 

[dawne98]

passports?
Do you really need one for a 3 day on the Dream?

 

[Linda67]

I followed the travels of the sausage from the dining reviews so I'm delighted that it's managed to find it's way onto a cruise

 

[Tracerr00]

Love the Aquaduck, but that water that shoots behind you is so cold!
I'll have to remmber that about online checkin. We are going to be traveling with 6 families total (including us) and I am their travel agent, so I'll try to be sure we all do online check in fairly early. When I sailed the Dream last Spring, online check in didn't make a difference to your boarding number, but I hear it has changed now.

I can't say for sure that the CMs apply this rule for everyone but that's what it was according to the CM that we got. I'm going to let our TA know about that little tidbit too just in case! Whether or not it's true I'm going to make sure to check in online as soon as I can in the future. And yes, the Aquaduck water is really cold when you're not expecting it to come rushing in from behind!

great start - Eilee looks really pretty and too grown up

WWOHP looks fantastic and enjoying your cruise so far but friends who only eat pizza and chicken nuggets = waste at disney. I would have eaten so much better :
Waiting for more................

Yes, it was a waste when I'm the one that paid for the dining plan for all of us as a gift! I hadn't really spent a lot of time with them so I didn't know. Oh well, at least they graciously ate with us and enjoyed the most expensive chicken nuggets around! LOL!

/Ship_1st_glimpse.JPG[/img]
So we decided to find our room (even though we couldn’t get in until 1:30). We found our room and placed the magnet on the door (I’d ordered it off of ebay because I’m not crafty enough to make my own!).

I am taking my first Cruise on the Dream in March, we will be in room 2536, right next door to your room - I am interested in hearing about the room, view, location, and ease of getting to ship activities from here. Thanks.

My next post includes photos of our room. I have to say that our room was in such a convenient spot! On maps it looks like it is right next to the stairs and elevators (which it is) but it's connected by a short curvy hallway so that keeps out any noise. And our room was right on the other side of the curvy hallway so we didn't have to walk a long way at all once you got off of the stairs/elevator. I couldn't have asked for a better location on deck 2! You will love it! I'll write more about the room in the next post so stay tuned!

passports?
Do you really need one for a 3 day on the Dream?

Yes! We did need a passport. We couldn't check in online without our passport information so I'm assuming that you do. And our travel agent asked for them at one point too. We already had them so it wasn't a big deal for us.

I followed the travels of the sausage from the dining reviews so I'm delighted that it's managed to find it's way onto a cruise

Linda!! So glad to see you over here!! The sausage and I are honored to have you along for the ride!

 

[Joanna71985]

You will have so much fun!! We were first time cruisers as well and I learned a lot by reading reports here on the DIS. I learned lots of great tips that I never would have known about!

Thanks! I am really looking forward to it (although...I'm already afraid that 4 nights is not going to be long enough! ). Also, I've learned so much from the cruise forum here at the DIS, as well as TRs.

 

[DISNEYFOURME]

passports?
Do you really need one for a 3 day on the Dream?

We just got back from 3 nighs on the Dream and we did not have passports. We had no problems.. Some on this site may suggest differently. We used certified birth certificates instead. When we supplied them at our check in they just took a picture of us all together. I assume that if you had a passport they skipped that step.

 

[marciemouse]

I'm enjoying your TR so far, and I had to tell you that I think your daughter's name is beautiful! (Good spelling choice! )

 

[Tracerr00]

We just got back from 3 nighs on the Dream and we did not have passports. We had no problems.. Some on this site may suggest differently. We used certified birth certificates instead. When we supplied them at our check in they just took a picture of us all together. I assume that if you had a passport they skipped that step.

Good to know! We didn't even think twice about it because we already had them.

I'm enjoying your TR so far, and I had to tell you that I think your daughter's name is beautiful! (Good spelling choice! )

Thank you - I spelled it like Eileen without the N in hopes that people would know how to pronounce it...but that didn't work! Mostly people call her Ellie when they say it out loud at the doctor's office and such. Thanks for joining in!

 

[Tracerr00]

After riding on the Aquaduck we were wet and ready to get into our rooms! We’d already located our room on the ship a bit earlier so we knew exactly where to go and I happen to think that it was in a great spot and I’ll tell you all about it! When we’d originally booked the cruise I decided to go with a travel agent because I knew nothing about cruises. I’m a travel-aholic but I’d never done a cruise and I knew I needed help. She asked if I tend to get motion sickness and the answer to that is a big YES!! She said that some people say that if you get motion sickness you might want to try a lower level near the middle so this is exactly what I chose to do. I was on deck two midship and I chose an oceanview rather than a magic porthole room. It turns out that I loved this room.

The first thing I noticed was the porthole!

To the left was the couch (that turned into a bed) and the bed.

To the right was a desk & chair, a mirror and the TV. You can see that there is a wave phone holder and a wave phone charger on the desk. The orange did not come with the room!

Unfortunately I realize that I didn’t take nearly enough photos on this trip (also some of them are stuck in my camera which is currently having some issues). To the left of the entrance was a door for the toilet and sink. And then another door for the bathtub/shower and another sink. This was very handy when we were both trying to get ready! I was in room 2538 which was only one level down from the main atrium area where you enter the ship, as well as guest services, the staircase, the Royal Palace, shopping and Animator’s Palate. It was incredibly convenient to walk up the stairs to any of these things! It was also convenient to take the elevator up to the top as sometimes the elevators get quite crowded so if you get in at the bottom then it was pretty easy to get a spot when it made several stops and filled up on the way up! It wasn’t so convenient to the pools, tween club and Aquaduck but we never really had an issue. The only issue that we had was that when it was busy on the upper decks and we wanted to go back to the room you couldn’t just walk down a flight of stairs or two. We had to wait for the elevators which were crowded sometimes but again, this was barely an issue.

This room was perfect for the two of us and it was a nice price too! There was also a Murphy bed that folded down from the ceiling and after we came back from dinner on the first night, the stateroom host had folded it down and it was all set up! Eilee chose to sleep up there and she loved it and she loved star covered “sky” above the bed. Eilee also loved the porthole! There was a time or two when she’d get in there, pull the curtain and read or take a little snooze. Weird kiddo, I know!

My travel agent also said that people tend to like deck two because it’s easy to get off the ship when in port or when you’re disembarking. We found both to be true. It couldn’t have been easier! She also looked at a deck plan for the dream to see what was above us so that it wouldn’t be noisy and we found that Guest Services was above us and I’d like to think that people aren’t yelling or stomping around Guest Services but I’m sure it happens occasionally! I did see a woman that seemed to be very rude at Guest Services one time because she wanted a comment card on the spot. They tried to tell her that she’d be provided with one that very day in her stateroom but she made a big scene. They offered to have someone speak to her about it but she demanded the comment card then and there. Sorry, I digress…our room was very quiet and we loved it. I would have no problem recommending a room here!

Next up…Sail Away Party and dining!

 

[disneydreamin247]

I'm joining in! It looks like you had so much fun. My DS saw your DD sitting in the window and said he must have that window! Kids, I tell ya.

 

[Tinker74]

Hi...Iam joining in. ....I will be cruising the dream next August with my 12 yr old dd so Iam very curious to hear about the edge?

Did they have much supervision?...I have heard about some activities that take them all over the ship..is this with a counsellor in tow or by themselves?

As my dd won't be with a friend or sibling I really dont want her wandering around by herself...but I really want her to enjoy the edge club.

 

[cschnell]

Thank you for all the wonderful information about your room! I shared it with my DH and DD and we are all even more excited about our trip. My biggest concern was about our room location. I'm glad I no longer need to be concerned about it.

 

[Tracerr00]

I'm joining in! It looks like you had so much fun. My DS saw your DD sitting in the window and said he must have that window! Kids, I tell ya.

Glad to have you! The porthole was great and fun to look out early in the morning. We could see when it was getting light out and also see when we were slowing down and pulling into port. Very cool!

Hi...Iam joining in. ....I will be cruising the dream next August with my 12 yr old dd so Iam very curious to hear about the edge?

Did they have much supervision?...I have heard about some activities that take them all over the ship..is this with a counsellor in tow or by themselves?

As my dd won't be with a friend or sibling I really dont want her wandering around by herself...but I really want her to enjoy the edge club.

I don't have my Navigator handy right now but I'll be sure to post about the activities there! I only remember one time when they all left The Edge together and it was for the fireworks. I only know that because I was standing on the deck and my daughter said "Hi Mom! I'm having fun!" as she passed by me with a group of kids and a counselor. My DD had a friend on the ship but I know that she would have had a fantastic time even without her friend. She loved the counselors too. They had some organized activities on Castaway Cay too. My DD and friend were the only two to show up for one of them but she felt very special because she got to eat lunch alone with the counselors and she talks about that all the time. I'll try to post more in the trip report!

Thank you for all the wonderful information about your room! I shared it with my DH and DD and we are all even more excited about our trip. My biggest concern was about our room location. I'm glad I no longer need to be concerned about it.

Don't be concerned at all! I'm glad I could help because I too was worried about being on deck 2. I kept thinking that I should upgrade but we really enjoyed it! There were so many times that we went to a shop or made a quick stop at guest services and it was so convenient to just be bop up one set of stairs.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Joining in on the fun!!
Love the pictures of the room expecially. I really loved our midship rooms on the Wonder(oceanview) Deck 2 I think. and on the Saphire balcony room deck 6, I am wondering how I will do in Dcember when we are deck 9 aft. I have motion problems and hope it is not a problem as we have a corner room(big verandah ) and handicappe room so we shall see,

I have a question. How did the wave phones work? Did you use them much?

How far away from yor were your friends? How did that work>

thanks in advance for the info.
Lee

 

[Tracerr00]

After we dropped our things in the room we went to Cabana's to grab a bite to eat. For some reason I wasn't very hungry so I had some random stuff. We explored the ship some more and then back to the room until it was time for the lifeboat drill. Our designated station was on deck 4 out on the walking/running track area. So we went there, found our letter "L" and got checked in. Luckily everyone from our group was there and it went smoothly. After the drill was over everyone piled towars the door and this was by far the longest wait of the trip. It took forever to get out of there for some reason. And then of course everyone wanted to go to the sail away party which was at 4:30 so trying to take the elevator up to deck 11 was a real pain but I think it would have been a pain on any elevator.

The girls were itching to get to The Edge so they took their wave phones and off they went. I went over to the side of the stage while I was waiting for Holly to text me and I watched the party for a while!

I met up with Holly and we went up to deck 12 where I met up with one of these babies!!

This, my friends, is a Pina Colava - yes, lava. It is a pina colada with either strawberry or raspberry puree (I didn't care which!). I think I stirred this up a little bit because I remember them being a little bit more defined in the glass. The servers just walk around with trays of these and it was quick and easy to have them put it right on your key to the world card!

After the party Holly and I went up to top so we could watch as we sailed away. It was so fun to see how many people come out to watch the Dream sail away. I kind of have an airplane obesession and I could sit at the airport and watch planes land for hours so these people must love the Dream. They had fold up chairs and such and they all waved at us and we waved back at them. I loved hearing the horn sound too!

Then we went to our rooms and met the girls. And we found this!


I think that I was pretty lenient with the girls and we let them go back and forth to The Edge as long as they stayed together and promptly answered texts on the wave phone. My only big rule was that Eilee meet me for dinner every night "and don't be late!". And she always complied. The restaurant on the first night was at the Royal Palace. We met our serving team of I Made(server), Joy (assistant) and Vladimir (head server). They were all amazing. On the first night they asked what we would like to drink and if you follow my dining review you'd know that I LOVE coke! So I had a coke and Eilee asked if she could please have a kiddie cocktail. Joy asked if she liked cherries and Eilee said yes so Joy brought her a small container of them! And every night after that Joy had a kiddie cocktail and cherries waiting for her. And I had coke waiting for me of course.

I didn't take photos of anyone else's food but mine but I can tell you that if they had steak on the menu, Eilee ordered it. On the first night I wasn't super hungry because we ate a late lunch and I had that pina colava yet I managed to eat
A spinach cheese souffle as an appetizer and it was sooooo good! Eilee tried a bite and she wished that she'd ordered it as well.

I was going to ask for a souffle for her but then her main dish came out. My main dish was a Caesar Salad. It was very good with tender chicken.


Dinner was lovely and before we even got to dessert the girls wanted to go to The Edge. So they told our servers that they would not like dessert and that they were leaving. And off they went! But I ordered the dessert trio! If I remember correctly, it was mango cheesecake, vanilla creme brulee and peanut butter chocolate mousse.



After dinner I went back to the room for a bit before the show and I ran into our stateroom host Jorge in the hall. He said "You must be Tracy!" - wow, impressive/creepy that he knew my name! He introduced himself and showed me a few things about the room. When you go into the room you must put your key to the world card or some card with a magnetic strip into the slot right inside the door in order to keep the lights on while you are inside. He showed me that you could take your door hanger thing (the one that says "privacy" and stick the edge of that into the slot instead!). He was incredibly nice, just what you'd expect from Disney service.

Then I went to the spa to book a pedicure for Eilee the following day as we had no excursions for Nassau. And I decided to book a massage for myself too!

The show that night was Golden Mickeys and I thought it was great. Holly had a headache and the girls were at The Edge so I went by myself. The cruise director was Clayton and he came out just prior to the show and he was great. And then Captain came out and he was wonderful too. Do you sense a theme here?

The premiere of Beauty and the Beast was that exact night and they were showing it at 12:01 am in the theater. I was going to try to see this but I ended up getting tired and just wanted to relax in the room. Eilee was having a blast and she met lots of new friends The Edge. The Edge closed at 1 am and I told her to be back to the room right after that and she was back at about 1:03. I'll enjoy this time now because when she's a teen I'm sure it won't be so easy!

Up next - day 2, Nassau!

 

[Tracerr00]

Joining in on the fun!!
Love the pictures of the room expecially. I really loved our midship rooms on the Wonder(oceanview) Deck 2 I think. and on the Saphire balcony room deck 6, I am wondering how I will do in Dcember when we are deck 9 aft. I have motion problems and hope it is not a problem as we have a corner room(big verandah ) and handicappe room so we shall see,

I have a question. How did the wave phones work? Did you use them much?

How far away from yor were your friends? How did that work>

thanks in advance for the info.
Lee

Welcome!! We used the wave phones quite a bit. Each stateroom comes with two of them so we all had one. We mostly used them to text one another because for some reason every time Eilee tried to call me on my phone she couldn't hear me. I could hear her just fine but she couldn't hear me. We would mostly text to find out where the other person was so we could meet up. One time she wanted a smoothie and texted to ask if she could have one. Oh yes, our other rule was that she could have charging privileges but she must ask before every purchase! Anyway, I was really glad that they have the wave phones as they make it really easy to communicate on the ship. Also, we were in room 2538 and our friends were in 2019. So they were on the opposite side and down a ways but it worked out just fine. And we could text each other on the wave phones if we needed to!

 

[Joanna71985]

The food sounds amazing! That's one thing I'm really looking forward to