Dream special rooms - now that we see the pictures! ** Index now in Post 7 **

[HallsofVA]

For all of the cruise experts on here, especially those that know a lot about the Dream, do you have any opinion (good or bad) about stateroom #6190. Thanks!

It looks fine, and has some extra verandah room which should be good. Look at the picture below, and you can see it well. It's the room next to the room with the flag pole. The flag pole itself shouldn't block you when the ship is sailing, and while you could have the flag on your deck similiar to how it's laying on room 6690 at the moment, that should be only when the ship is in port, and you'll likely be off the ship at that point. There is a double railing there, that will probably keep you from getting all the way to the edge of the verandah railing and looking down but we don't know what the actual view is like until we get reports back. It is a connecting room but 90% of the rooms are.

 

[HallsofVA]

I'm glad that everyone else drew the same conclusions I did. I was shocked at the lack of connecting staterooms on this ship!

Did you mean to say lack of non-connecting rooms, or abundance of connecting rooms, as the vast majority of the rooms on the Dream are connecting rooms?

 

[ShelleyLynn]

I am so hoping one of the experienced cruisers will come to my aid!! I hate not knowing "the ropes" like I do planning my WDW trips! We are first time cruisers, booked on March 4, 2012 for five night trip. My daughters will be 10 and 8 at the time and we are traveling with another family who will have a daughter 13. We have booked room 10158 and our friends have booked 10160. What are the basic pros/cons to aft rooms? Should we book a more mid ship room for our first trip? I read in one of the posts the room we have would not have a fireworks view r/t overhang. Do all other rooms mid ship have fireworks? Will we hate coming/going from this location or is that not really a big deal? What advice would you give me in choosing a room for a first time cruise. I really want my husband to have a good time and be impressed with the trip. I am so excited I cant wait until March 2012! Our room looks a little different shaped from the others...is that bad or good, is our verandah a good one? Will March weather allow us to use the verandah or is it a waste of money??

TIA!! The Dis is so awesome for info!! I would not be the WDW planning pro without it and now I need to learn my cruise skills!

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

Shelleylynn:

I sure can't answer all of your questions because I'm planning our first Disney cruise. I have been on a few other cruises though and the one thing I can address is should you go midship for a first cruise. Do any of your traveling companions have any issues with motion sickness in cars, planes or on rides? If anyone does I would encourage a midship cabin for a first cruise. There is just more movement in the aft of the ship. If none of your group has any motion issues you may love the aft....many people do! I sure share your excitement in planning our first Disney cruise. I'm sure I will be spoiled after this cruise.

 

[amandaw]

It looks fine, and has some extra verandah room which should be good. Look at the picture below, and you can see it well. It's the room next to the room with the flag pole. The flag pole itself shouldn't block you when the ship is sailing, and while you could have the flag on your deck similiar to how it's laying on room 6690 at the moment, that should be only when the ship is in port, and you'll likely be off the ship at that point. There is a double railing there, that will probably keep you from getting all the way to the edge of the verandah railing and looking down but we don't know what the actual view is like until we get reports back. It is a connecting room but 90% of the rooms are.

Thanks so much for pointing out our room on the picture. That, along with the info you gave, made me feel really good about the room we got. Thanks, again!

 

[HallsofVA]

We have booked room 10158 and our friends have booked 10160. What are the basic pros/cons to aft rooms? Should we book a more mid ship room for our first trip? I read in one of the posts the room we have would not have a fireworks view r/t overhang. Do all other rooms mid ship have fireworks? Will we hate coming/going from this location or is that not really a big deal? What advice would you give me in choosing a room for a first time cruise. I really want my husband to have a good time and be impressed with the trip. I am so excited I cant wait until March 2012! Our room looks a little different shaped from the others...is that bad or good, is our verandah a good one? Will March weather allow us to use the verandah or is it a waste of money??

Congrats on booking your first cruise. And how great that you have friends in the room next to you!

The rooms you've booked are almost identical to the location we sailed in on our first cruise, though on the Magic it was room 8100, a Cat 3 suite. We actually preferred aft locations on the Magic/Wonder, because of the convenience to most of the restaurants, the drink station, Mickey pools, Shutters, and the movie theatre. We had a lot less motion in our aft room then we did on our 2nd cruise when we were in the mid-forward Roy suite, and have gone back to the aft locations on 2 of our other 3 cruises.

One thing you should think about to answer your question, is where to do think you will be spending most of your time on the ship? You have some tweens and a teen with you, so you might check out the proximity to the edge and vibe (I think those are the right clubs). I know the vibe teen club is at the very front of the ship on deck 5, and the edge I think is up in the forward stack. But kids are portable so you may think more about where you and DH will be spending your time. On the Dream, the restaurants are split between the aft and midship locations, and the nightclubs are now more aft than forward as they are on the Magic/Wonder. We stayed forward once on the Wonder, and found that it didn't work well for us, since with little kids we spent more time in the family areas of the ship, and I liked to stop at the drink station each night after looking at pictures at shutters, and it was a very long walk from the drink station back to our room, and I had to get two drinks to keep from finishing the 1st before I got back to the room!

As to the fireworks, I haven't yet heard any reports of how the actual firework show on the Dream is, though you can watch a video taken from the Magic during their recent meet-up on 1/1/11. On the Magic/Wonder, deck 8 is the equivalent deck to Deck 10 on the Dream/Fantasy, in relation to the deck above. On all of the ships, the upper decks overhang the stateroom deck. We learned the hard way, that being on your verandah on that upper stateroom deck during the firework show was pretty disappointing, since the overhang blocks the overhead fireworks, and all we got to see where the ones that shot out a little further away from the ship. So we just go watch the pirate party and fireworks whenever we can, rather than trying to see them from the verandah. An exception on the Dream could be the Deck 5 verandahs that extend out all the way to the furthest edge of the ship, or the aft verandahs that extend out further as well.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Here are some pictures of the special starry sky located above the upper bunkbed as shown on the DCL website stateroom pictures. My son is excited to see the constellations. I wonder if they are different ones in different rooms? This has already caused controversy for us, as my DD who sleeps on the lower bed wonders what special thing she has. (I'm touting the light above the couch unless anyone has another suggestion.)

Wow, that is way cool!

 

[Piecey]

Did you mean to say lack of non-connecting rooms, or abundance of connecting rooms, as the vast majority of the rooms on the Dream are connecting rooms?

Whoops. Definitely didn't mean to say lack. Meant to say I was surprised at how many do connect.

 

[cleenw]

There seems to be some sort of contraption(on wheels?) next to our veranda...can anyone tell me what this is? Does it move? I hope it does, because I would love to have an unobstructed view.

 

[FeeFeeWhite]

The positive is that it'll have the larger verandah as most other 5E verandahs will have. The negative is it's location, and possibly that it's a connecting room depending on your needs or preference. I'm not as concerned about what's on Deck 5 itself as to what is below it. 5528 is directly above the Walt Disney Theatre Balcony, and I'm not sure how much soundproofing separates you from the actual theatre. Hopefully they've added quite a bit.

On the Magic/Wonder, they didn't really break out the "balcony" level, so I don't know what difference that will make. You can read the room reports from the forward Deck 5 rooms on those ships. I think some of the most common reports were noises from the theatre during nap times as they rehearsed the stage shows, and of course from the actual performance if you went to bed early. On the Magic/Wonder, the shows generally went until 9:30pm, except on nights they had adult or other entertainment in the theatre (which they did on the WBTA, but that may have been because there were so many adults on board.) On the Dream, the 3rd show goes from 9-10pm, so a little bit later.

Honestly, there are so many rooms on the ship that have positives and negatives, and your perception of which is which depends on what's important to you or what you prefer. On our August cruise, we have friends travelling with us. At the time they booked, the cheapest connecting rooms they could find were two of the square 8A rooms on Deck 5. Do they really want to be above the WDT? No, not really. Did they want to pay more for connecting verandah rooms in another location? No, not at all. So they opted for the *potential* disruption of Deck 5 (since no one had sailed there yet) instead of paying more for another location or category. [Bonus since booking - we found out that each of their rooms has 2 large portholes, so they'll have 4 large portholes across their connecting rooms! Again, positive vs negative, and the positives won them over.]

Looking for updates on double porthole rooms!

 

[HallsofVA]

There seems to be some sort of contraption(on wheels?) next to our veranda...can anyone tell me what this is? Does it move? I hope it does, because I would love to have an unobstructed view.

They are cleaning trolleys, and there are several located around the ship. They slide along tracks to help with the constant cleaning and washing that is necessary to hold back the damaging effects of salt water. We have seen them move, but in many of the pictures, there is one parked back there toward the back.

 

[papamouse1]

Wow!! Amazing work HallsofVA.

I do have one question about our room that concerns me. We have a family ocenview staeroom #6508. My conern after reading this post would be is this room a connetcting room? That would really stink, I never even thought about asking them.

Thanks for all your info..

 

[DizDragonfly]

Wow!! Amazing work HallsofVA.

I do have one question about our room that concerns me. We have a family ocenview staeroom #6508. My conern after reading this post would be is this room a connetcting room? That would really stink, I never even thought about asking them.

Thanks for all your info..

When you hover over 6508 on the deck plans, it does NOT say it is a connecting room. So, it sounds like you are getting what you hoped for.

 

[HallsofVA]

Wow!! Amazing work HallsofVA.

I do have one question about our room that concerns me. We have a family ocenview staeroom #6508. My conern after reading this post would be is this room a connetcting room? That would really stink, I never even thought about asking them.

Thanks for all your info..

When you hover over 6508 on the deck plans, it does NOT say it is a connecting room. So, it sounds like you are getting what you hoped for.

6508 is definitely not connecting. It is a lone 8D room sandwiched between a 9A and 8A room. There are very few instances where rooms of different categories connect. Enjoy!

 

[glassslipper2004]

Is a connecting room really that bad? Because we have one (6100)... our TA said she couldn't find a non-connecting room in the category we wanted. Apparently there are lots of connecting rooms on the Dream.

 

[HallsofVA]

Is a connecting room really that bad? Because we have one (6100)... our TA said she couldn't find a non-connecting room in the category we wanted. Apparently there are lots of connecting rooms on the Dream.

No, they're not that bad. We've sailed in connecting rooms, and non-connecting rooms, and haven't noted problems in one versus the other. But some folks are opposed to them, so it's pointed out just in case they have a preference and didn't notice that. Better to know up front, to be prepared (or change if there is a strong aversion) than to be surprised when on the ship and let it impact your enjoyment of the trip. As with any room, on a ship or in a hotel, if you have really noisy neighbors, you will probably hear them regardless of whether it's a connecting room or not!

On the Dream/Fantasy, finding non-connecting rooms is the challenge as almost all rooms in all categories are connecting. On the Magic/Wonder, it's the opposite - it was often hard to find connecting rooms. As a result, I always tried not to book a connecting room unless I needed it, so it was potentially available for someone who needed it. I've carried that personal preference over to the Dream, trying to book non-connecting rooms when it's just the 4 of us travelling.

 

[Sunshineminnie]

I have finally managed to make it through the majority of this thread and am more confused than ever! We will be going on a 7 day in 2012.

My DH will really enjoy the verandahs and I want to be sure to book a nice one.

Here's my confusion:

I initially thought that the aft rooms looked pretty neat but now I am worried that they are too recessed and that you won't really feel like the ocean is just beneath you.

On deck 10 I'm wondering if the public area above it will be noisy.

If we want to sit on the deck and read a good book, watching the ocean go by, are we better off with a side verandah or aft (some look a little bigger).

Thanks so much for any opinions. Once I make this decision I can rest easy till 2012! Right now, my mind is much from trying to weigh all of the options.

 

[glassslipper2004]

HallsofVA -- Thanks! That seems pretty reasonable to me. We don't have small children needing naps, so hopefully it won't be much of a problem anyway.

 

[lmhall2000]

HallsofVA!

Amazing job!! Now a question...we are celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2012...we have always had to book the cheapest category (funds) but I am secretly stashing some extra away to surprise my family. We would like one of the larger family verandah rooms (304 sq. feet?) Looking at all your notes...do any of those fit the rooms on the back? Or are there other verandah rooms that have a unique layout that may offer more space? We're sailing in 60 days and I hope to book on the ship..hoping I can request a specific room...I'll go check the layout again, just all the color coding is boggling!

Great job!!!
HallsofAL!!
Tara

 

[lawone]

There seems to be some sort of contraption(on wheels?) next to our veranda...can anyone tell me what this is? Does it move? I hope it does, because I would love to have an unobstructed view.

When are you going??? We are in that stateroom for the April 14th/3day cruise....