Disney Dream Dec. 8, 2013

[Kiss-im-mee2]

Disney Dream- Dec 8 to 12


We just came home from a great cruise on the Disney Dream. We are in our early 60's and went without any kids. Disney had some great FL residence rates and we booked a balcony guarantee. We had a great stateroom on deck 5 which had an oversized balcony. It was a good location close to the front elevators above the Disney Theater. We have sailed on about 40 cruises on several different cruise lines. This was our second Disney cruise.


We arrived at the ship at 12:30 and parked in the port parking. Open check-in had already begun and we were on the ship in about 15 minutes. We took time in the terminal to download the Disney cruise app onto my DH's phone. In order for it to be free you need to download before you leave port. We used it quite a bit to find things on the ship, check activities times and look at dining room menus.

The first thing we did when we got on the ship was to go to the Royal Palace to change our dinner time from late to early. We do not like to eat late and although we knew there would be more children at early we were willing to put up them. It actually turned out fine. There were a lot of children but we hardly noticed them except for the adorable little 6 month old who looked just like our grandson. The children were very well behaved. We were seated at a table for 8 with other adults around our age.

After we changed our dining time, the rooms were ready, so we dropped off our carry on luggage and went to the buffet for lunch. We were really looking forward to the crab claws and shrimp. Unfortunately the crab claws were awful. It seemed like they were frozen too long. They were mushy and grainy almost like refrozen ice cream. The rest of the food on the buffet was OK. We found most of the food on this cruise to be just OK. There were a few things that were very good and a few things that were not so good. Our server in the dining room was fantastic so anytime something wasn't to our liking he would immediately replace it. We were also able to order anything from any of the restaurants without any problem. I really liked the pasta with black truffle sauce that was an appetizer in Animators Palace so I ordered it again in the Royal Palace. One of the ladies at our table didn't like fancy food and often ordered off the children's menu. The head waiter visited our table every night to make sure we were all happy with the food.

Of course this being Disney the entertainment was top notch. The first night was the Golden Mickeys which we really enjoyed. Second night was a magician from Las Vegas who was had some interesting spin on some old tricks. We don't care for Villains, which we saw on the Magic, so we went to see Frozen. Christian, the CD, told us he likes to play a good family film at the same time as Villains. The last night was Believe which was also excellent. The sets, costumes, singing and dancing was so wonderful.

Our first day was a sea day which we really enjoyed because it gave us a chance to explore the ship. In Nassau we were parked next to the Magic. It was nice to see the two ships together. I got some great pics. I didn't realize the Dream was so much bigger.




It was as a cloudy day with a few sprinkles. We have been to Nassau many times so we walked down to Potters Cay and the bridge to Paradise island so we could take pictures. After lunch on the ship we walked to the MacDonalds to use the internet to facetime with our sons. Our day at Castaway Cay was beautiful, warm and sunny. Serenity Bay was lovely and the BBQ was very good. We had a nice time snorkeling even though the water was a little cold.

Disembarkation was very easy. We just went to Cabanas for breakfast at 6:30 then walked off the ship. We saw the captain in the atrium taking last minute pictures with guests as they were leaving. We did have to wait in line for immigration and customs for about 15 minutes but that wasn't too bad. We were able to make it to work by 9AM. We had a great cruise but we won't sail Disney again until we get another great price. Since we don't have young children the other cruise lines are fine with us. The food and service is just about the same and we prefer cruises with less children.

 

[DisneyDreamerMN]

Glad you had a nice time! My husband and I will be cruising on the Dream in Feb and are looking forward to it.

 

[silkie8]

Thanks for posting the very nice trip report. We are going on our first Disney cruise on the Dream in February. Our stateroom is 5650 --- do you mind me asking what your stateroom number was? Looking forward to the oversized verandah.

 

[Kiss-im-mee2]

We had room 5032 which was just a bit forward of the front elevators. There was two reclining chairs and two regular chairs plus a small table.

 

[msbuzzlightyear]

We were also on this cruise, although we loved every minute of it and found the ship beautiful, we enjoy the intimacy of the Wonder more.

 

[dsneygirl]

We were on that cruise as well. We loved every minute of it. The drizzle in Nassau was a bit of a bummer but we went to see 'Frozen' that afternoon.

 

[tej917]

Thanks for sharing! Did you go to Castaway Cay? Is the food there included in the cruise pricing? Thanks.

 

[Kiss-im-mee2]

Yes we went to Castaway Cay and the food is included.

 

[bethyz]

Thanks for the trip report! We are a couple in our 50s with no children and are hoping we will enjoy ourselves.

 

[Poohbear60]

Thank you for the trip report. We went on the Wonder 3 years ago for our 30th anniversary, and had a wonderful time. We will be on the Dream February 23rd to get away from the Michigan snow! And we had a great time travelling with no children. We were seated with other couples our age, and the children on board were well behaved.http://distickers.com/ticker/tickers/g6wxcowt86kx58aj.png

 

[stanamana]

We cruised on the Dream the first week of Feb 2014. It was our first cruise (My Wife, our 7 Year Old, and Myself) and it WON'T be our last.

We had a mid ship state room on deck 6, standard sized veranda. The room was a nice size and the Veranda provided a great place to sit and decompress at night. Jorge, our Stateroom Host made us feel right at home and we really enjoyed our servers at dinner. Disney does do hospitality well. I thought the ship was spotless and comfortable....big....but comfortable. I enjoyed the look and feel and even though the ship was booked, I did not feel like it was ever crowded anywhere other than at dinner.

The entertainment was top notch, Golden Mickeys and Villians were a lot of fun. I think I rode the AquaDuck 7-8 times and really enjoyed it.

Now for the destinations......Nassau, never been there. Won't put myself out of the way to go back. We walked thru the downtown area and weren't really impressed. We did go snorkeling while ported in the Bahamas. That was a well put together trip. The guides were great, very glad we went snorkeling. Next we stopped at Castaway Cay. I would have liked to have had another day there. Chilling on the beach and swimming in the water was a great way to spend a day knowing that everyone back home was digging out from a snowstorm....plus Castaway Cay was nice, clean, and truly relaxing.

Day at sea.....would have loved to have had 2 days at sea to have time to walk the ship some more....but it was nice be captive audience and not have to worry about getting on and off the ship.

I'll say that the pirate party on pirate night was a blast, the show was great, Jack Sparrow is the man.

I'll say that getting off of the ship at the ports was a simple process, as was getting back on.

I'll say that waking up on the last morning and being docked at port canaveral was a VERY depressing sight! The announcement that the ship had cleared customs sets a sad tone in that your cruise is over and you have to leave.

Will I cruise Disney again? You betcha......booked the next one while on board. Will I go on the Dream again? Maybe some day...but I'd like to see what their other ships look like.