Dream 5 day double dip Christmas Cruise Pro's and Con's

[flyingcat2003]

Hi everyone. We just got back from the 5 day double dip Christmas cruise on the Disney Dream. This was our second Disney cruise (the first was on the Magic). The Dream is a beautiful ship but LARGE. We had a wonderful time. I wanted to make a pro's and con's list to see if anyone had the same experiences or felt the same way as we did....

Pro's
-Quiet Cove
-Cove Cafe
-Golden Mickey's Show
-Believe Show
-Great sit down lunches
-Great sit down breakfasts
-Great stateroom host
-New Ship
-Beautiful



Con's
-Too crowded
-Ship is very big and takes some time to get from one place to another
-Our dinner servers (which will remain nameless bc I don't want to get anyone in trouble), were sub par at best. Our server took our order, delivered the food and we never saw him again. Our assistant server was slow on drink refills, spilled a whole glass of water in me and my sons lap, used our napkins to clean it up (and we finished dinner without napkins) and never apologized that we had to eat with soaking wet laps. We never experienced anything like this with Disney before.
-The common areas were hot
-Animator's Palate is too noisy with Crush
-Food at dinner was sub par the first night but got better
-Horrible Villain's show
-Elevators slow
-If you have teenagers (like we do) that don't want to go to the club (he's 17) there isn't much entertainment. He is too old for the "kids stuff" but too young for the "adult stuff"
-The servers REALLY PUSH you to give them excellent ratings on the comment card at the end of the cruise. I gave our servers an excellent rating even thought I felt the service was anything but. I was afraid they would get fired if I told the truth. They put so much emphases on these ratings that you felt if they got anything less than excellent, then they would be locked away in a dungeon for a time out.

As of now, we agree that we prefer the Magic over the Dream. Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any similar experiences.

 

[iloverags2]

I totally agree with "Villains"...the story is just, well there is no story. Not a fan of it.

As far as dining room servers, it really is hit or miss regardless of which ship you are on. We have sailed the Magic three times...twice we had the most awesome servers. Unfortunately our last sailing on the Magic (this past May) our server was subpar at best, and he pushed the whole excellent rating thing (first time we ever had that happen). Our assistant server on that sailing was incredible though!

On the Wonder, once we had outstanding service, the other time we had good service. Nothing that stood out, but nothing bad either. Neither of those times did they push ratings.

Then this past October on the Dream I braced myself for horrid service after reading so many negative reviews. Our server was good. Again, not outstanding, but he was pleasant and efficient. Our assistant server ROCKED! And no ratings pushed on that one either.

So, it really is luck of the draw I guess. And I would imagine the worse the service, the more the excellent rating is pushed. (Great servers don't need to worry about it. )

We have often contemplated cruising during a holiday, but the thought of maximum capacity is a huge turn-off. You just confirmed my fears!

Thanks for your thoughts on this cruise!

 

[fredgirls]

Hi everyone. We just got back from the 5 day double dip Christmas cruise on the Disney Dream. This was our second Disney cruise (the first was on the Magic). The Dream is a beautiful ship but LARGE. We had a wonderful time. I wanted to make a pro's and con's list to see if anyone had the same experiences or felt the same way as we did....

Pro's
-Quiet Cove
-Cove Cafe
-Golden Mickey's Show
-Believe Show
-Great sit down lunches
-Great sit down breakfasts
-Great stateroom host
-New Ship
-Beautiful



Con's
-Too crowded
-Ship is very big and takes some time to get from one place to another
-Our dinner servers (which will remain nameless bc I don't want to get anyone in trouble), were sub par at best. Our server took our order, delivered the food and we never saw him again. Our assistant server was slow on drink refills, spilled a whole glass of water in me and my sons lap, used our napkins to clean it up (and we finished dinner without napkins) and never apologized that we had to eat with soaking wet laps. We never experienced anything like this with Disney before.
-The common areas were hot
-Animator's Palate is too noisy with Crush
-Food at dinner was sub par the first night but got better
-Horrible Villain's show
-Elevators slow
-If you have teenagers (like we do) that don't want to go to the club (he's 17) there isn't much entertainment. He is too old for the "kids stuff" but too young for the "adult stuff"
-The servers REALLY PUSH you to give them excellent ratings on the comment card at the end of the cruise. I gave our servers an excellent rating even thought I felt the service was anything but. I was afraid they would get fired if I told the truth. They put so much emphases on these ratings that you felt if they got anything less than excellent, then they would be locked away in a dungeon for a time out.

As of now, we agree that we prefer the Magic over the Dream. Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any similar experiences.

Thank for sharing these thoughts.
We've only been on the dream but agree with your cons. We're really looking forward to the Wonder in a couple of months to see how she compares.

I felt VERY pressured to give an excellent in the review. The servers were OK. Until the last night. The assistant gave us his life story. It was a very moving story but involved killings of relatives and was absolutely not appropriate in front of the children! It put us off so much that the kids said they didn't want to eat in the restaurant this trip! I have talked them round, but may very well skip the last night this time and just drop off the tip envelopes to avoid the pressure.

Also agree that animators palate was too crowded and noisy.

We had an amazing time but we're really looking forward to sailing on a smaller ship.

Thanks again for sharing.

 

[slc]

I assume the Pirate night was Christmas night?

How did that go & what can you describe?

My family will be cruising Dream next Christmas and can hardly wait (maybe the servers will shape up by then)

 

[gumbo1009]

You wrote that "The common areas were hot." Were the restaurants warm as well?

I often get chilly at restaurants and was thinking I would need to pack a lot of "wraps" for dinner - but your comment makes me think I might be able to revise my packing plan...

Thanks for the great summary. We're planning on a Christmas Cruise next year, and it's always good to have realistic expectations!

 

[caskar]

I assume the Pirate night was Christmas night?

How did that go & what can you describe?

My family will be cruising Dream next Christmas and can hardly wait (maybe the servers will shape up by then)

Pirates night was the day after Christmas. Good dramatic show with CaptIn Jack Sparrow and ended with fireworks.
We had Wonderful servers! Even the head server was wonderful.Kendall, Sasa, Adi. Great service and interaction with all. The food was good but I felt it could have been hotter..

Cast members are all so nice! Even though most cast members at WDW are good, all we encounter on ship were friendly and worked very hard to make the ship shine! Many character meet and greets with much interaction. So many positives! So few negatives.

Castaway Cay -Serenity Bay was so relaxing.

Only disappointments I had were the movies shown. Lincoln was the only movie really for adults. Maybe I expected too much. Mess up with my using a gift card. Took me 3 visits to guest services - last one was right before I left ship to get it taken care of. System was down for 2 days to redeem card. Finally all worked out.

We look forward to our next chance to cruise with Disney!

 

[TriciaTurnerRN]

Only disappointments I had were the movies shown. Lincoln was the only movie really for adults. Maybe I expected too much. Mess up with my using a gift card. Took me 3 visits to guest services - last one was right before I left ship to get it taken care of. System was down for 2 days to redeem card. Finally all worked out.

We look forward to our next chance to cruise with Disney![/QUOTE]


We leave in a little over two weeks for our first cruise and my kids have been wondering what movies were playing. Thanks

 

[Kappagator96]

Movies shown last week on the Dream: Wreck-it Ralph, Lincoln, Monsters, Inc 3D, the Odd Life of Timothy Green and Brave 2D.