Just back from the Dream on 8/16!!

[bellebud]

Just back from our 5 day Disney cruise and thought I would share some comments since I got so many tips and advice from this board before taking our trip.

Transportation- we flew in a couple of days early and stayed at the BC. Had wrestled with wether to use DCL transportation or not, and decided at the last minute to go private. Hands down, I would do it that way again. We used FL Tours- highly professional, SUPER clean car, LOTS of room in the back seat to relax.

Stateroom- we had a family room with a verandah- rm 7108.

They STILL have the clonky bracelets though. I waited until we needed them to put them on my kids cause they took one look at them and rolled their eyes, so I knew better than to push it! We ended up only having them go when we went to Palo. DD 8 loved it (and she is my shyer one) but my DH 10 was bored...wanted to be with the older kids.

Ports- we did the Atlantis port adventure and if I were to do it again, I would NOT do it.

Castaway Cay is awesome. I took another posters advise and would suggest you do the same- ride the tram to the last stop to Pelican Point- it’s a perfect spot.

One thing I would do differently tho- have a professional photo done. They have a photographer who takes professional photos in the lobby with a “normal”background- does NOT even look at all that you took it on a Disney cruise. Had I known this, I would have packed color coordinating outfits (or at least one’s without patterns and prints!!). AND the $85 online offer is NOT available on board. My TA told me it was so I didn’t buy it- it is NOT!!

Baskets by Shirley- I ordered 2 of the mid size pails for my DD’s (cost $48 each) and a mid size basket for DH & me for $75. My kids were so surprised when they opened the door and saw them on the bed. Honestly- that moment alone was worth the cost. There were TONS of sand toys (way more than we need) and same for the snacks/and drinks. Next time- the smaller pail will be sufficient but do customize it. I added light up pirate necklaces that the girls loved and wore at the pirate party. The basket for DH& me was perfect with nuts, Cherry Coke and Sam Adams.

Port Arrival Times- our time was 11:00. Our transportation picked us up at BC at 10:15 and we got to the port at 11:15- we got thru security, completed the 2 question health survey and immediately got in line to check in. By noon we were heading on the ship. The check in line is the longest, but they move along really quick I think. When we were standing in line- I noticed they were announcing boarding numbers 1-14 already so it seemed like they were letting lots of people get on right away. We got #4 and basically got right on.

So glad you had such a great cruise... and thank you so much for sharing all the details with us.

We're cruising in Nov. Same category cabin, just on deck 9. I'm disappointed in how small you say the balcony is. We'll of course enjoy it anyway, but from what I'm seeing (of course I'm sure I'm wrong), the only larger balconies are the concierge suites... (?) I'm so glad we got the Murphy bed. The couch pulls out too, correct? I don't like the kids sleeping in the upper bunk - they roll around too much and sleep walk. I ended up sleeping up there on another cruise, and even I was afraid I'd not remember where I was if I woke up groggy and went to stand up (lol). I'm sure they'll 'play' up there, but no one's sleeping up there.

When you got to the port at 11:15, where there disney busses there already? We'll be in Orlando (not disney) the few days before the cruise, and I was debating on getting ourselves over to MCO really early and taking the disney bus over, or getting a private car. I just really want to be on the ship EARLY (doesn't everyone...), so whichever way would get me on the earliest is what we'd do.

Clunky bracelets - my ds10 is going to hate that. It might even keep him out of the clubs. We're doing a b2b (3-day, 4-day). We'll have 2 days at Atlantis, and 2 days at Castaway Cay, and any ship time, I know they'll be in line for the Aquaduck. They're not going to have much time anyway for the kids clubs, but they look so neat, I thought they should check them out at least. We'll definitely go check them out on the first day all together, so they at least can mess around in there a little. That might be enough for them. We'll definitely do the detective agency too (and we'll probably deliver FE gifts then too). Can't wait for that!!

The Atlantis... you didn't do the slides?? I booked us a room at Comfort Inn for both Atlantis days, so we'll have full access. Did you go over to the slide section at all? What about wandering around the aquariums (underground and above). Not too special?

Thanks for the advice at CC Pelican Point. I've got to study a CC map. We'll try Pelican Point for sure!

And glad you said something about matching outfits for professional pics... I'll write that on my list right now And the $85 photo package... going to order that too. Thanks!!

Oh, and Baskets by Shirley! I was debating on that... but the surprise of them will be as much fun as what's in them, so thanks for posting that! I'll do all pirate stuff, since I then won't have to pack it.

This cruise is a surprise for our kids... we'll be at a medical convention (as patients) in Orlando Fri/Sat/Sun, and the kids will think we're flying home to NY Sunday. We'll just start driving, saying we're going to the airport, and arrive at the port. They'll probably faint! I can't wait!! I'm as excited about the *surprise* as I am about the cruise itself! We were even thinking of not telling them about the 2nd leg of the cruise, and when we have to get off the ship, pretending we're going home. Then we get back on!!! The only problem is, what if they say "glad we're off, we didn't like it"... I'd die! You always hear about these surprises going bad with the kids reactions.

Your report is exactly the info I needed - so glad you posted! If you could just answer my couple of questions, I'd appreciate it.

 

[clairelly]

great report! we were on the 4 night Dream cruise before yours and totally fell in love with it

someone asked about room service on morning check out and if i remember correctly, you cannot.

we are impatiently waiting for 2013 dates so we can book a 5 night cruise

oh and we got to the port at 10.45am and had to keep circling round as they wouldnt let us in until 11am. Being from UK the non US check in line was very small and we were boarding number 6 and on before midday.

 

[clairelly]

oh and we were on deck 7 deluxe family stateroom with verandah room 7602, it was just perfect

it had a pull out sofa bed but our DS 13 stayed on the bunk bed which was automatically pulled out each night.

 

[tyedye]

Regarding photo packages... I tried to find out also if the $89 10 credit package was available on the ship and sent an email to DCL. DCL responded that it was available on the ship however I didn't see it advertised anywhere. Now it could have been available if you asked and I had my email printed out to show them but we decided to purchase the 20 credit package for $149 on board. So we did end up spending more but we were able to get some pics we wouldn't have and it was a better deal. An 8x10 is 2 credits and a 6x8 is 1 credit. I didn't think we would have had enough pictures taken to use 20 credits but was surprised how many we were able to get because there were no lines or short lines for the background pics, plus we got some good ones at CC which normally we don't see the photographers there, and I really liked those. For those interested the candids at CC were 6x8 and the one from the Castaway Club was also 6x8, all others were 8x10. Also don't forget to look at the computer kiosk at pictures as they don't print out all of them.

 

[DisGal520]

Regarding photo packages... I tried to find out also if the $89 10 credit package was available on the ship and sent an email to DCL. DCL responded that it was available on the ship however I didn't see it advertised anywhere. Now it could have been available if you asked and I had my email printed out to show them but we decided to purchase the 20 credit package for $149 on board. So we did end up spending more but we were able to get some pics we wouldn't have and it was a better deal. An 8x10 is 2 credits and a 6x8 is 1 credit. I didn't think we would have had enough pictures taken to use 20 credits but was surprised how many we were able to get because there were no lines or short lines for the background pics, plus we got some good ones at CC which normally we don't see the photographers there, and I really liked those. For those interested the candids at CC were 6x8 and the one from the Castaway Club was also 6x8, all others were 8x10. Also don't forget to look at the computer kiosk at pictures as they don't print out all of them.

just double checking with you - there were no 4 X 6 offered???

thanx

 

[TiggerAllie]

They had a paper with a 20-credit package and a 40-credit package offered. I did not ask about a smaller package. If you buy the CD, the credit packages are half-price.
The pictures come as 6x8 or 8x10. You can get them reprinted without borders, but you cannot change the size.
You can get the 8x10's printed as 2 5x7's, but these come on 1 8x10 sheet of paper and they will not cut them apart for you.
(I was also on the 8/16 Dream.)

 

[sdchickie]

Hello fellow Dreamer, we were also on the 8/16 cruise!

We were on the August 7 sailing and Cabanas was open that last morning. Breakfast is available until 8:30.

We always sleep in the last morning, Cabanas was open and pretty full of people when we went. If you do decide to sleep in just make sure you get off the ship between the 2 breakfast times. If you wait till either of the breakfast times is over it is crowded getting through customs.

You said to get off the last tram stop by pelican point. We were planning on doing this but someone posted that the beach is very rocky. Is that how you saw it?

We were at pelican point and it didn't seem rocky to us, however when we went in the water at the waterslides we got stung by small jellyfish. When we were in the water near the original family beach we had no problem with getting stung. The teen club is near the pellican point stop too so if you have teens that you want to be able to fetch that is a good area for you.

 

[winnyis]

They had a paper with a 20-credit package and a 40-credit package offered. I did not ask about a smaller package. If you buy the CD, the credit packages are half-price.
The pictures come as 6x8 or 8x10. You can get them reprinted without borders, but you cannot change the size.
You can get the 8x10's printed as 2 5x7's, but these come on 1 8x10 sheet of paper and they will not cut them apart for you.
(I was also on the 8/16 Dream.)

I was on the 8/16 cruise and my parents bought two sheets of the 5X7's of a palo picture of our group and shutters did cut them apart for us and gave us separate sleeves for each picture.

 

[tyedye]

just double checking with you - there were no 4 X 6 offered???

thanx

The only way that I know of that you can get a 4x6 is to buy the picture you want, scan it in when you get home and either print it yourself, or print the copyright release and upload and print from your photo store (be sure to bring the copyright release).

The pictures the photographers on board take are mostly 8x10 with some 6x8.

Look closely at the photo's, for example we would have 2 different poses taken and they would print about 5 different pictures from that. All they did was turn one from landscape to portrait mode, or zoom in closer, etc and I would think for those purchasing a cd you could zoom and crop them how you want. We did not purchase a cd so I don't know what all you can do.

 

[TiggerAllie]

I was on the 8/16 cruise and my parents bought two sheets of the 5X7's of a palo picture of our group and shutters did cut them apart for us and gave us separate sleeves for each picture.

You must be lucky! I specifically asked and they told me, no, they won't cut any of the pictures apart.
You would think that spending $325 would justify some "complimentary" cutting, but it was a no-go.