PiratePug
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2008
Just off the Disney Dream and had an absolutely fantabulous trip!! I went with my mom (this was her first cruise). This was my third cruise; I have two more cruises booked (all on DCL). So obviously I like Disney cruises a little bit
Now for my review:
Embarkation: I read as much about this topic as I could and was grateful I knew what to expect (thanks Disers!
) because the process has changed quite a bit since the last time I cruised. We flew in to Orlando the day before and stayed at the Hyatt (inside the airport), which is what my husband and I have done before our other cruises. Around 8:20 on embarkation morning my mother and I walked down to the Magical Express Welcome Center and were warmly greeted by a woman with enormous fluffy white hands. 
We checked in at the counter, signed a health form, had our security photo taken together, received our KTTW cards, were given green Goofy cards for boarding the DCL bus, and I was given my Castaway Club lanyard. We then had a seat in the waiting area. By 8:45 the ME counters were packed with people. Around 9:20, everyone with green Goofy cards lined up and we were given boarding passes for the ship group #2. 
We boarded the bus to Port Canaveral and arrived at the cruise ship terminal around 10:40, went through security, then had a seat after looking around a bit. I saw Mickey 
and later on Minnie 
in the terminal posing for pictures. The time went by very quickly and we were on the ship shortly after noon. There were lots of people blocking the area you enter to board the ship and we had to weave our way through the crowds when they called our group to board. We had our embarkation photo taken and were on our way!!
In short: Because I knew what to expect, I felt like the process was much easier and I was more relaxed.
The Ship: The Dream seemed HUGE compared to the Wonder! It is a beautiful ship and I loved exploring it. I found myself taking lots of pictures of the artwork I loved the mosaics reminded me of the mosaics in Cinderellas castle in WDW. I enjoyed the lounge chairs on Deck 4 in the evenings I never saw anyone else out here and thought of it as my private getaway by the end of the cruise. I participated in the Midship Detective Agency
on the first night of the cruise and this helped me feel really comfortable navigating different areas of the ship (BTW this was really cute and even if you come up behind someone doing the same mystery as you, the clue wont necessarily be the same). I spent some time at Quiet Cove and I admit I thought I wouldnt like the pool area because most of the lounge chairs are on the deck above the pool (on Deck 12) but I actually DID like this layout. Throughout the cruise, there always seemed to be lounge chairs available in Quiet Cove. Donalds pool and Mickeys pool were always crowded. The hot tubs were filled to capacity every time I walked by, day or night.
In short: Gorgeous ship, immaculate yet warm and inviting. I enjoyed Quiet Cove and didnt find it to be crowded but the hot tubs, family and childrens pools were quite packed. Nemos Reef is cute and I could imagine my 2 year old nephew having fun splashing around here. Aqua Duck was fun but very tame IMO.
The Staterooms: I stayed in a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah on Deck 8. I normally share a stateroom with my husband, but this time I had a room all to myself, as my mom was staying in the connecting stateroom. There was a ton of storage space lots of cabinets and plenty of space under the bed. I liked the round shower and the bench made shaving very easy and having that extra space in the shower made me feel less claustrophobic. There is a rain shower on the ceiling or you can switch to the removable shower head. Our stateroom host was awesome as usual; we chatted at least once a day. I heard we could open the divider between our verandahs but I kept forgetting to ask him how to do that. One thing to note, if you like to watch TV
(I like to turn the TV on at night when Im getting ready to go to sleep), it took me two days to realize I was aiming the remote at the wrong spot on the TV! I kept thinking there was something wrong with the TV, even unplugged it a couple times. I could power the TV on and off or change the volume with the remote, but I couldnt change the channel then I realized I had to aim the remote directly at this little square on top of the TV and voila! I was a channel-changing master after that. I loved my stateroom never had a problem with noise from other guests but there were some annoying vibration-type feelings/noises early in the mornings. It was room 8644 which is portside aft, so for future cruises I plan to stay more midship.
In short: Loved the stateroom, plenty of storage space, convenient and comfortable shower, thermostat is near the top of the door. Fish extenders (at least on Deck 8) are seahorses on the Dream. You have to place your KTTW card (a credit card will work too) in a little slot above the two main light switches near the door in order to turn the stateroom lights on. Outlet in the bathroom is on the ceiling I only used the outlets by the mirror/desk in the sitting area. The wave phones are so convenient this was a huge comfort for my mom to be able to communicate with me when we werent together on the ship.
The Food: My mom and I enjoyed the embarkation buffet at Cabanas. Im not a cold shrimp or mussel person, but my mom is, and she said the mussels were the best shed ever had. Shes still talking about those mussels! They also had lots of crab legs, which we had fun cracking open I think I pretty much massacred mine . For dinner, we had late seating and were seated at a table for four. One of the best things about our dining experience was our lovely tablemates another adult daughter and her mother. We hit it off the first night we talked about Palo and they said they werent able to make a reservation online. I told them they often had open spots on the last night of the cruise so try to get something then. Dinner the first night was at Animators Palate. My mom loved her food; I thought mine was pretty good. I had the potato soup, risotto, and lemon thyme chicken breast. The show in AP on the Dream is very different than on the Wonder and the Magic it was fun watching the guests nearby interact. Surprisingly, our server and assistant server were not that great. Our table mates didnt get their drinks until after the entrée was served, my mother and I asked for SweetN Low but never received it, the assistant server poured water all over one of our table mates pasta and said oh but didnt offer to replace it, and the service was just extremely slow. Many of the tables around us (with much bigger parties) had finished with dessert by the time we got to order ours. At the end of the meal, our server did apologize for the poor and slow service; that wiped the slate clean for me.
The second day we had lunch at Atlantis. I skipped dinner at Enchanted Garden that night because it was pirate night 
and I wanted to eat at the pirate buffet in Cabanas. I didnt see any shrimp or mussels on the buffet, but they did have turkey legs, a taco station, and a baked potato station in addition to lots of desserts and other dishes. The third day we had lunch at Cookies theres just something so good about grilled burgers. I have always enjoyed the buffet at Cookies and this time was no exception. I saw burgers, hot dogs, ribs, chicken, mahi-mahi, cole slaw, potato salad, couscous, different kinds of bread, fresh fruit, and sweets. They had some kind of warm onion flatbread that I really liked. Plenty of ice cream, too I didnt note all the flavors but from the looks of it there were at least six. Dinner that night was at Palo my absolute favorite place to eat at sea (and perhaps anywhere). Each time I eat here it just gets better and better. Guess who was at the table next to us?? Our table mates! The service was fabulous, the food was divine, the atmosphere was splendid yet comfortable.
On debarkation morning the four of us ate breakfast together before debarkation and although the food was so-so the company was grand. This was the second and last time we saw our dining room servers. Service was better, albeit debarkation breakfast is very scaled down compared to dinners. The server and assistant server were very friendly and we hugged both of them good-bye.
In short: The show in Animators Palate was better than the food. We sampled most of the quick-service offerings and they were okay. The Pirate Night buffet was good, but now that Ive done it, I will skip it in the future. Palo was amazing and not to be missed. With the exception of debarkation morning, I ate breakfast at Cabanas and brought my mom breakfast & coffee from here to her stateroom.
The Entertainment: I dont remember how or why, but I missed the Sailing Away party. Ive seen Golden Mickeys and although I know there are some new additions, I decided to skip it this time. Villains Tonight was fun but not spectacular IMO.
However, the guy that played Hades also played Genie in Disney Dreams and hes fabulous! I would love to hang out with him in real life. Disney Dreams was my favorite show this one actually made me cry! It is so sweet and the ending is
well it made me emotional, LOL! The musical numbers in Disney Dreams are fantastic. The dancing and choreography in both Villains Tonight and Disney Dreams is just amazing. I went to the District Lounge to hear Rose Ranger Duo
it was more like Rose Ranger Dud
I was the only person there, however
. Family Fusion was fun to watch. I wanted to see Alfred & Seymour but never made it heard they were pretty good, though. I liked all the lounges and look forward to spending more time in them with my hubby. During pirate night, I mostly went for the Buccaneer Blast (fireworks) and it didnt disappoint. I liked that the fireworks were scheduled to start at a certain time.
In short: Loved Disney Dreams and Buccaneer Blast, lounges are cool and cozy loved the different themes. Got to meet all the characters I wanted to meet check your navigators! I never had to wait long for a character pic.
Excursions: My mom has always dreamed of swimming with dolphins, so on Nassau day we did the Atlantis deep water dolphin swim with Aquaventure (booked through DCL). I love Atlantis; Ive been here on a previous cruise and for a week with some girlfriends last year. The dolphin swim was beautiful and amazing and incredible - I could write so much about it. I did the shallow water interaction last year and loved that, but this was so much more . I feel blessed to have been able to participate in this. There was only one other person in our group. The Atlantis photographers took about 100 pictures during our excursion and we bought all the pics on a memory stick for $150. You are not allowed to have a camera with you (it would be hard to use it anyway).
At Castaway Cay we went to the Family Beach. Even though I dont have any kids, I have always loved the family beach. I just love the sounds and the environment here. We both went snorkeling and I came upon a HUGE stingray! I took a picture of him then I quietly swam away. I also found some things while snorkeling that eluded me on previous cruises. I loved lying on that rectangular float and just relaxing in the water. After we ate lunch at Cookies, my mom went back to the ship and I moved on to the other family beach because I wanted to go on the waterslides at Pelican Plunge fun fun fun!
Even though the signs clearly say the water is deep, I wasnt expecting to go under as much as I did coming off the slides! You have to swim out to the platform and then back to the beach, but its a shorter swim than it looks I was able to walk on the bottom for a good amount both ways.
In short: The weather was beautiful on both days.
Atlantis is awesome, I loved the waterslides and the current at Aquaventure. They have so many different pools I still havent been to all of them. If you like aquariums youve got to see the Dig at Atlantis (this is more than an aquarium). Castaway Cay is heaven on earth. Wave phones worked great even though my mom was on the ship and I was on the beach. 
Pelican Plunge was fun; there seemed to be about an even amount of adults and kids enjoying the slides. I left my belongings on beach chairs several times and they were never moved perhaps Im being naïve but I always felt comfortable leaving my bag and towels while I went in the water.
Couple of other notes:
The ship was completely booked when we checked in we were told there were 4000 people sailing and that the Dream was completely booked until September. However, except for the Donald and Mickey pool areas, I didnt find the ship to be overly crowded.
Shutters: I always purchase pictures from Shutters. Yes, they are pricey, but I love having my memories preserved in photos. Maybe one day my camera pics will turn out comparable to the Shutters photog pics . Shutters sort of looks like a small library. There are cabinets in each section named after different characters; each cabinet contains several rows of books. Each row is a different color and each book is labeled with a number. When a photographer takes your picture, they swipe your KTTW card. As pictures are taken during the cruise, they are printed and placed in your book. In order to locate your book at Shutters, you swipe your card at one of the kiosks and read the instructions on the screen. It will say something like Your photo book is in Minnie Mouse green 40. So you would find the Minnie Mouse section, look for the green row of books, then look for book 40. You can take your book off the shelf and look at all the pictures on one of the nearby tables. I like this better than having all of your pictures out in the open. That being said, there are still some pics out in the open. Im assuming this is because a KTTW card wasnt swiped because most of the pics were from the dining rooms or of kiddos on Castaway Cay.
Internet/Cell access: I brought my laptop but was never able to connect to the Internet while onboard. While we were at sea between Nassau and Castaway Cay I took a chance and discovered I was able to text my husband, so we spent about 20 minutes texting back and forth. Couldnt make calls or MMS pictures though. While we were at sea that night, I couldnt text for some reason. I have AT&T for those that are curious.
Magnets: I learned about door decorating on the Dis and had so much fun with this on our last cruise.
I like to change out some of the magnets based on the theme or port of the day. For this cruise, I also made some magnets for my moms door. She loves Donald Duck, so I printed out his hat and bill to go around the stateroom number on the door; I also made a magnet for her that said My first cruise with Donald Duck and some other little decorations. It was something I made myself, not something I copied (except for the Donald Duck pic) my point is, it was unique and obviously home made. I also had about 15 magnets on my door. On the second morning of our cruise I left to eat breakfast and when I came back I noticed the My first cruise magnet was gone. I asked my mom about it and realized someone stole it. Bummer 
The next day, I found it on someone elses door!! Same deck, same side of the ship. So I took it back!! And yes, I KNOW it was the magnet I made like I said, there were several unique identifiers.
A note about tipping If you put your tips on your shipboard account you will receive a ticket for each crew member to put in your tipping envelopes. However, if you dont distribute these tickets, the crew members will still receive your tip. My mom accidentally gave the head server the ticket/envelope for the server and was almost in tears because she thought he would get her tip and vice versa (the tips are significantly different). I explained this to our server and she hugged my mom then laughed and explained when you pay the tips using your shipboard account they go into an account for each crew member the tickets are just tokens to give the crew members.
I did rebook for September 2012 while onboard (planned to do this when the cruises out of Galveston were announced). I stopped by the Future Cruises desk, told them what I wanted and used the credit card linked to my stateroom for the deposit. The whole process took less than 5 minutes.
Our flight home didnt leave until 4:00 so we booked a day room at the Hyatt (another tip I learned on the Dis) and this worked out wonderfully for us I was able to take a much needed nap and later a relaxing shower.
Any questions?? Ask away
Now for my review:
Embarkation: I read as much about this topic as I could and was grateful I knew what to expect (thanks Disers!
) because the process has changed quite a bit since the last time I cruised. We flew in to Orlando the day before and stayed at the Hyatt (inside the airport), which is what my husband and I have done before our other cruises. Around 8:20 on embarkation morning my mother and I walked down to the Magical Express Welcome Center and were warmly greeted by a woman with enormous fluffy white hands. We checked in at the counter, signed a health form, had our security photo taken together, received our KTTW cards, were given green Goofy cards for boarding the DCL bus, and I was given my Castaway Club lanyard. We then had a seat in the waiting area. By 8:45 the ME counters were packed with people. Around 9:20, everyone with green Goofy cards lined up and we were given boarding passes for the ship group #2. We boarded the bus to Port Canaveral and arrived at the cruise ship terminal around 10:40, went through security, then had a seat after looking around a bit. I saw Mickey and later on Minnie in the terminal posing for pictures. The time went by very quickly and we were on the ship shortly after noon. There were lots of people blocking the area you enter to board the ship and we had to weave our way through the crowds when they called our group to board. We had our embarkation photo taken and were on our way!! In short: Because I knew what to expect, I felt like the process was much easier and I was more relaxed.
The Ship: The Dream seemed HUGE compared to the Wonder! It is a beautiful ship and I loved exploring it. I found myself taking lots of pictures of the artwork I loved the mosaics reminded me of the mosaics in Cinderellas castle in WDW. I enjoyed the lounge chairs on Deck 4 in the evenings I never saw anyone else out here and thought of it as my private getaway by the end of the cruise. I participated in the Midship Detective Agency
on the first night of the cruise and this helped me feel really comfortable navigating different areas of the ship (BTW this was really cute and even if you come up behind someone doing the same mystery as you, the clue wont necessarily be the same). I spent some time at Quiet Cove and I admit I thought I wouldnt like the pool area because most of the lounge chairs are on the deck above the pool (on Deck 12) but I actually DID like this layout. Throughout the cruise, there always seemed to be lounge chairs available in Quiet Cove. Donalds pool and Mickeys pool were always crowded. The hot tubs were filled to capacity every time I walked by, day or night. In short: Gorgeous ship, immaculate yet warm and inviting. I enjoyed Quiet Cove and didnt find it to be crowded but the hot tubs, family and childrens pools were quite packed. Nemos Reef is cute and I could imagine my 2 year old nephew having fun splashing around here. Aqua Duck was fun but very tame IMO.
The Staterooms: I stayed in a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah on Deck 8. I normally share a stateroom with my husband, but this time I had a room all to myself, as my mom was staying in the connecting stateroom. There was a ton of storage space lots of cabinets and plenty of space under the bed. I liked the round shower and the bench made shaving very easy and having that extra space in the shower made me feel less claustrophobic. There is a rain shower on the ceiling or you can switch to the removable shower head. Our stateroom host was awesome as usual; we chatted at least once a day. I heard we could open the divider between our verandahs but I kept forgetting to ask him how to do that. One thing to note, if you like to watch TV
(I like to turn the TV on at night when Im getting ready to go to sleep), it took me two days to realize I was aiming the remote at the wrong spot on the TV! I kept thinking there was something wrong with the TV, even unplugged it a couple times. I could power the TV on and off or change the volume with the remote, but I couldnt change the channel then I realized I had to aim the remote directly at this little square on top of the TV and voila! I was a channel-changing master after that. I loved my stateroom never had a problem with noise from other guests but there were some annoying vibration-type feelings/noises early in the mornings. It was room 8644 which is portside aft, so for future cruises I plan to stay more midship. In short: Loved the stateroom, plenty of storage space, convenient and comfortable shower, thermostat is near the top of the door. Fish extenders (at least on Deck 8) are seahorses on the Dream. You have to place your KTTW card (a credit card will work too) in a little slot above the two main light switches near the door in order to turn the stateroom lights on. Outlet in the bathroom is on the ceiling I only used the outlets by the mirror/desk in the sitting area. The wave phones are so convenient this was a huge comfort for my mom to be able to communicate with me when we werent together on the ship.
The Food: My mom and I enjoyed the embarkation buffet at Cabanas. Im not a cold shrimp or mussel person, but my mom is, and she said the mussels were the best shed ever had. Shes still talking about those mussels! They also had lots of crab legs, which we had fun cracking open I think I pretty much massacred mine . For dinner, we had late seating and were seated at a table for four. One of the best things about our dining experience was our lovely tablemates another adult daughter and her mother. We hit it off the first night we talked about Palo and they said they werent able to make a reservation online. I told them they often had open spots on the last night of the cruise so try to get something then. Dinner the first night was at Animators Palate. My mom loved her food; I thought mine was pretty good. I had the potato soup, risotto, and lemon thyme chicken breast. The show in AP on the Dream is very different than on the Wonder and the Magic it was fun watching the guests nearby interact. Surprisingly, our server and assistant server were not that great. Our table mates didnt get their drinks until after the entrée was served, my mother and I asked for SweetN Low but never received it, the assistant server poured water all over one of our table mates pasta and said oh but didnt offer to replace it, and the service was just extremely slow. Many of the tables around us (with much bigger parties) had finished with dessert by the time we got to order ours. At the end of the meal, our server did apologize for the poor and slow service; that wiped the slate clean for me.
The second day we had lunch at Atlantis. I skipped dinner at Enchanted Garden that night because it was pirate night and I wanted to eat at the pirate buffet in Cabanas. I didnt see any shrimp or mussels on the buffet, but they did have turkey legs, a taco station, and a baked potato station in addition to lots of desserts and other dishes. The third day we had lunch at Cookies theres just something so good about grilled burgers. I have always enjoyed the buffet at Cookies and this time was no exception. I saw burgers, hot dogs, ribs, chicken, mahi-mahi, cole slaw, potato salad, couscous, different kinds of bread, fresh fruit, and sweets. They had some kind of warm onion flatbread that I really liked. Plenty of ice cream, too I didnt note all the flavors but from the looks of it there were at least six. Dinner that night was at Palo my absolute favorite place to eat at sea (and perhaps anywhere). Each time I eat here it just gets better and better. Guess who was at the table next to us?? Our table mates! The service was fabulous, the food was divine, the atmosphere was splendid yet comfortable.
On debarkation morning the four of us ate breakfast together before debarkation and although the food was so-so the company was grand. This was the second and last time we saw our dining room servers. Service was better, albeit debarkation breakfast is very scaled down compared to dinners. The server and assistant server were very friendly and we hugged both of them good-bye.
In short: The show in Animators Palate was better than the food. We sampled most of the quick-service offerings and they were okay. The Pirate Night buffet was good, but now that Ive done it, I will skip it in the future. Palo was amazing and not to be missed. With the exception of debarkation morning, I ate breakfast at Cabanas and brought my mom breakfast & coffee from here to her stateroom.
The Entertainment: I dont remember how or why, but I missed the Sailing Away party. Ive seen Golden Mickeys and although I know there are some new additions, I decided to skip it this time. Villains Tonight was fun but not spectacular IMO.
However, the guy that played Hades also played Genie in Disney Dreams and hes fabulous! I would love to hang out with him in real life. Disney Dreams was my favorite show this one actually made me cry! It is so sweet and the ending is
well it made me emotional, LOL! The musical numbers in Disney Dreams are fantastic. The dancing and choreography in both Villains Tonight and Disney Dreams is just amazing. I went to the District Lounge to hear Rose Ranger Duo
it was more like Rose Ranger Dud
I was the only person there, however
. Family Fusion was fun to watch. I wanted to see Alfred & Seymour but never made it heard they were pretty good, though. I liked all the lounges and look forward to spending more time in them with my hubby. During pirate night, I mostly went for the Buccaneer Blast (fireworks) and it didnt disappoint. I liked that the fireworks were scheduled to start at a certain time. In short: Loved Disney Dreams and Buccaneer Blast, lounges are cool and cozy loved the different themes. Got to meet all the characters I wanted to meet check your navigators! I never had to wait long for a character pic.
Excursions: My mom has always dreamed of swimming with dolphins, so on Nassau day we did the Atlantis deep water dolphin swim with Aquaventure (booked through DCL). I love Atlantis; Ive been here on a previous cruise and for a week with some girlfriends last year. The dolphin swim was beautiful and amazing and incredible - I could write so much about it. I did the shallow water interaction last year and loved that, but this was so much more . I feel blessed to have been able to participate in this. There was only one other person in our group. The Atlantis photographers took about 100 pictures during our excursion and we bought all the pics on a memory stick for $150. You are not allowed to have a camera with you (it would be hard to use it anyway).
At Castaway Cay we went to the Family Beach. Even though I dont have any kids, I have always loved the family beach. I just love the sounds and the environment here. We both went snorkeling and I came upon a HUGE stingray! I took a picture of him then I quietly swam away. I also found some things while snorkeling that eluded me on previous cruises. I loved lying on that rectangular float and just relaxing in the water. After we ate lunch at Cookies, my mom went back to the ship and I moved on to the other family beach because I wanted to go on the waterslides at Pelican Plunge fun fun fun!
Even though the signs clearly say the water is deep, I wasnt expecting to go under as much as I did coming off the slides! You have to swim out to the platform and then back to the beach, but its a shorter swim than it looks I was able to walk on the bottom for a good amount both ways.In short: The weather was beautiful on both days.
Atlantis is awesome, I loved the waterslides and the current at Aquaventure. They have so many different pools I still havent been to all of them. If you like aquariums youve got to see the Dig at Atlantis (this is more than an aquarium). Castaway Cay is heaven on earth. Wave phones worked great even though my mom was on the ship and I was on the beach. Pelican Plunge was fun; there seemed to be about an even amount of adults and kids enjoying the slides. I left my belongings on beach chairs several times and they were never moved perhaps Im being naïve but I always felt comfortable leaving my bag and towels while I went in the water. Couple of other notes:
The ship was completely booked when we checked in we were told there were 4000 people sailing and that the Dream was completely booked until September. However, except for the Donald and Mickey pool areas, I didnt find the ship to be overly crowded.
Shutters: I always purchase pictures from Shutters. Yes, they are pricey, but I love having my memories preserved in photos. Maybe one day my camera pics will turn out comparable to the Shutters photog pics . Shutters sort of looks like a small library. There are cabinets in each section named after different characters; each cabinet contains several rows of books. Each row is a different color and each book is labeled with a number. When a photographer takes your picture, they swipe your KTTW card. As pictures are taken during the cruise, they are printed and placed in your book. In order to locate your book at Shutters, you swipe your card at one of the kiosks and read the instructions on the screen. It will say something like Your photo book is in Minnie Mouse green 40. So you would find the Minnie Mouse section, look for the green row of books, then look for book 40. You can take your book off the shelf and look at all the pictures on one of the nearby tables. I like this better than having all of your pictures out in the open. That being said, there are still some pics out in the open. Im assuming this is because a KTTW card wasnt swiped because most of the pics were from the dining rooms or of kiddos on Castaway Cay.
Internet/Cell access: I brought my laptop but was never able to connect to the Internet while onboard. While we were at sea between Nassau and Castaway Cay I took a chance and discovered I was able to text my husband, so we spent about 20 minutes texting back and forth. Couldnt make calls or MMS pictures though. While we were at sea that night, I couldnt text for some reason. I have AT&T for those that are curious.
Magnets: I learned about door decorating on the Dis and had so much fun with this on our last cruise.
I like to change out some of the magnets based on the theme or port of the day. For this cruise, I also made some magnets for my moms door. She loves Donald Duck, so I printed out his hat and bill to go around the stateroom number on the door; I also made a magnet for her that said My first cruise with Donald Duck and some other little decorations. It was something I made myself, not something I copied (except for the Donald Duck pic) my point is, it was unique and obviously home made. I also had about 15 magnets on my door. On the second morning of our cruise I left to eat breakfast and when I came back I noticed the My first cruise magnet was gone. I asked my mom about it and realized someone stole it. Bummer The next day, I found it on someone elses door!! Same deck, same side of the ship. So I took it back!! And yes, I KNOW it was the magnet I made like I said, there were several unique identifiers. A note about tipping If you put your tips on your shipboard account you will receive a ticket for each crew member to put in your tipping envelopes. However, if you dont distribute these tickets, the crew members will still receive your tip. My mom accidentally gave the head server the ticket/envelope for the server and was almost in tears because she thought he would get her tip and vice versa (the tips are significantly different). I explained this to our server and she hugged my mom then laughed and explained when you pay the tips using your shipboard account they go into an account for each crew member the tickets are just tokens to give the crew members.
I did rebook for September 2012 while onboard (planned to do this when the cruises out of Galveston were announced). I stopped by the Future Cruises desk, told them what I wanted and used the credit card linked to my stateroom for the deposit. The whole process took less than 5 minutes.
Our flight home didnt leave until 4:00 so we booked a day room at the Hyatt (another tip I learned on the Dis) and this worked out wonderfully for us I was able to take a much needed nap and later a relaxing shower.
Any questions?? Ask away
I have cruised 3 times with my Mom and I am cruising Dec 2012 with my Mom again if she is able. We love cruising!! Glad you enjoyed the time with your Mom.
