SURPRISE! Obstructed Verandahs on the Disney Dream

[jfs9900]

Just got home from the B2B 3night/4night Disney Dream and wanted to finish reporting on the many of the positive and negative things on this vacation!

First, we were surprised to find that after booking a 5A category (stateroom 9566) to find a fairly large obstruction on our verandah. Even after checking all the images BEFORE sailing

nothing prepared me for this! In fact it appears that somewhere between the TA crossing and the 2/3 sailing these panels were added to the exterior of the ship.

This addition significantly alters the view from approximately 96 rooms on the Dream. There are 12 total on each side of the ship that spans 4 decks (deck 6 to 9) and impacts the view of two staterooms.

Truthfully these locations must be reassigned to another cabin category or only used for GTY assignments. I feel definitely feel shortchanged in terms of paying for the highest-level category stateroom (before a Deluxe Family) and getting to look at a metal beam go across the balcony. I plan on contacting Disney directly regarding this issue in particular.

Personally I have found that I just do not like the 3 night sailings in general (regardless of the ship) it’s simply too short and there is a different atmosphere. Families tend to be in overdrive, trying to cram as much as possible in what is basically less than 2 days time. This is no fault of the ship or her crew but just a reflection on the particular type of sailing.

It’s also important to note that the ship is still a work in progress. There are MANY workers from Meyer Werft and Disney still working on thing throughout the ship. There was light construction on the entrance of Cabanas. Groups of people working on laptops in areas of the ship were also common. I’d expect to see some changes over the next few weeks from these workers that will help resolve a lot of the concerns that have been brought up by many on the first few sailings.

B2B experience
While the experience of getting off the ship and back on overall was simple and painless Sunday was a filler day. Up early for disembarkation and then little on the ship to do (other than lunch and the pool) during the afternoon. Two stops at Castaway is definitely a PLUS!

Dining
We avoided Animators Palette all together. Instead we dined in Remy, Palo, and Cabanas on these nights. Overall it just didn’t appeal to us and almost had a Chuck-E-Cheese feel. Food selections in Enchanted Gardens and Royal Palace are very good. In both EG and RP, it appeared that overall they were OVERSTAFFED in terms of servers not only at dinner but also during breakfast / lunch. They are still training a large portion of them… one funny line I had from a server was “would you like ice in your ice-tea?” The overstaffing is probably a positive to help keep things moving, as long waits for drinks and food were very common. For the most part our main server on the 4 night did the work of the assistant server and we tipped her accordingly. Overall experience in EG and RP, 3 Stars !

Palo
The dining room is much larger than I expected, we didn’t seem to have a difficult time getting reservations. The food was slightly better than in EG and RP. Overall the service is very ‘prompted’ and script like. For example our server asked us if we had eaten in Palo before, and was notably shocked when we responded ‘YES’ he seemed to expect that the response would be “NO” since this is a new ship. He went on to give a full explanation about the history of the restaurant etc. The same thing happened at each of the other tables seated after us. In my typical Palo experience a pizza is shared appetizer and main course. The server said, “Because the portions at Palo are so large you should only order an appetizer and a main course”. Also in a typical experience the server would bring items to ‘try’ and this didn’t happen either. Overall experience in Palo, 3.25 Stars !


Remy
It’s an EXPERIENCE, and if your willing to pay for it – I would highly recommend. The service is above average, and the food is EXCELLENT. I believe that overtime the service will also be EXCELLENT. There were a few bumps that I noticed that shouldn’t happen in a truly “fine dining” experience. For example napkin paring, white on light colored pants and black on dark is the norm. In Palo napkins were paired, but not in Remy. Sometimes if someone got up to go to the bathroom they would follow him or her out of the restaurant to show the way and sometimes they did not. For anyone that does not have experience with fine it will be a bit intimidating. Most of those in the restaurant were in the same situation and while the waiter is helpful in explaining the menu they steer guests to the pre set menu options instead of ordering ala carte. I’ll leave the foodies to review the offerings in detail, but I was impressed with everything I had and it was clearly worth the cover charge. Unless you don’t drink wine, expect to spend $300+ for a couple. Overall experience in Remy, 4 1/2 Stars !

I hope Disney will specify if the cover for Remy / Palo on the Dream is also the servers tip and so how much is given to the server, and if any additional gratuity is suggested.

Also I noticed this in the Palo/Remy bathrooms and some of the other public bathrooms: It seems that the design of the sink faucet was not aligned properly to the sink basin as when you put your hands under the faucet water runs all over the counter. It’s a poor design and will need to be fixed ASAP.

Pools
I commented on the Adult pool earlier. The family pools are WAY to small. Every time I walked by I wanted to pound my head against a poll. There can’t be any reason why on a LARGER ship the pools are SMALLER than on the Magic / Wonder it just boggles the mind. On the sea day of the 4-day it was clear, it was a box with kids standing in it; I couldn’t classify it as a pool in any respect. How could executives sign off on such a design? What sacrifices needed to be made to make the pools even marginally bigger? There are plenty of other ships that have larger pools. The only logical reason I could come up with for keeping the pool so small was for a safety. Maybe they feel that the smaller pools make it easier to monitor the entire pool and keep children safe?

A family got on one of the elevators and blurted out “anyone else think the service on this ship sucks”; one of the Disney workers I had noticed on his laptop all week was actually on the elevator at the same time, he didn’t respond, but I asked if he had been on Disney Cruise before, he responded with a “this is #4” I was hoping that the Disney employee was taking note, as I said that I gave them (Disney) a pass on this sailing as I expected the service to be a bit rough. Truthful I hope the employee was paying attention because the father of the family that said this, is probably reflective of a large percentage of cruises that sail on DCL. They don’t obsess like many of us on the DIS board and elsewhere. They book Disney because of the service and amenities – and are not at all concerned with how the back end of the vacation experience is delivered. All they know is that “the service sucks” or “this is bad” etc.

If you have any questions please let me know!

 

[jpeka65844]

Hmm...according to the pics, my stateroom would have one of these obstructing panels.

My sailing isn't until 6/24/12, though. Not sure if I should email my TA about it now or not.....

 

[mesaboy2]

jfs, how was the stateroom otherwise? I'm staying three doors forward of yours in June, and haven't seen much discussion on the 5As in particular. While I'm interested in all info you're willing to provide, one question I have in particular is whether yours had the pull-down bunk from the ceiling. Oh, and how was the motion of the ocean? Did you feel much bob and heave?

Sorry your view was partially obstructed. I noticed these panels in the CGI concept videos, and considered their location before selecting our stateroom.

Thank you!

ETA: I keep thinking of more questions...how much did the overhang of Deck 11 interfere with your view skyward? One reason I picked Deck 9 over Deck 10.

 

[geekmommy]

We're in a 4A in one of these rooms. Thanks for the heads up. Did you have an obstruction toward the right as well, or just the curved one on the left?

 

[HallsofVA]

Wow, that seems to be bigger than the same obstructions on the Magic/Wonder! Thanks for posting! The panels have actually been on the ship for awhile, having been added between the original float out at Halloween, and the conveyance from MW in mid-November, but it was hard to judge just what the impact of them would be from the verandah so we've been awaiting reports.

I just looked back at the various pictures to see when they were added, and realized that if you look at the various pictures that I indexed in the special rooms thread, you can actually see the panels in various stages of implementation on some of the different pictures. That original index picture you copied above, which was from the float out itself, actually has one of the first of those panels by room 7626. I just went back to the float out pictures, and there are no panels when it first floated out (except for maybe that one), then they added the panels on decks 6 and 7 (or 7 and 8), then filled in the rest of the ship.

I'll have to update the list of obstructed rooms given the size of the obstructions. But they do have similiar panels on the Magic/Wonder, and I don't recall any of those rooms being downgraded, but I haven't compared them against the new stateroom categories that went into place in January to see if they are somehow accounted for in the categorization.

 

[maria-fan-22]

I have a couple ?'s They are in RED.

Just got home from the B2B 3night/4night Disney Dream and wanted to finish reporting on the many of the positive and negative things on this vacation!
YAY!


First, we were surprised to find that after booking a 5A category (stateroom 9566) to find a fairly large obstruction on our verandah. Even after checking all the images BEFORE sailing nothing prepared me for this! In fact it appears that somewhere between the TA crossing and the 2/3 sailing these panels were added to the exterior of the ship.

This addition significantly alters the view from approximately 96 rooms on the Dream. There are 12 total on each side of the ship that spans 4 decks (deck 6 to 9) and impacts the view of two staterooms.
Truthfully these locations must be reassigned to another cabin category or only used for GTY assignments. I feel definitely feel shortchanged in terms of paying for the highest-level category stateroom (before a Deluxe Family) and getting to look at a metal beam go across the balcony. I plan on contacting Disney directly regarding this issue in particular.
How much did these actually affect the view? like percentage wise?



Personally I have found that I just do not like the 3 night sailings in general (regardless of the ship) it’s simply too short and there is a different atmosphere. Families tend to be in overdrive, trying to cram as much as possible in what is basically less than 2 days time. This is no fault of the ship or her crew but just a reflection on the particular type of sailing.

Totally agree.

It’s also important to note that the ship is still a work in progress. There are MANY workers from Meyer Werft and Disney still working on thing throughout the ship. There was light construction on the entrance of Cabanas. Groups of people working on laptops in areas of the ship were also common. I’d expect to see some changes over the next few weeks from these workers that will help resolve a lot of the concerns that have been brought up by many on the first few sailings.


Like what sort of things specifically?

B2B experience
While the experience of getting off the ship and back on overall was simple and painless Sunday was a filler day. Up early for disembarkation and then little on the ship to do (other than lunch and the pool) during the afternoon. Two stops at Castaway is definitely a PLUS!
Again Agree.


Dining
We avoided Animators Palette all together. Instead we dined in Remy, Palo, and Cabanas on these nights. Overall it just didn’t appeal to us and almost had a Chuck-E-Cheese feel. Food selections in Enchanted Gardens and Royal Palace are very good. In both EG and RP, it appeared that overall they were OVERSTAFFED in terms of servers not only at dinner but also during breakfast / lunch. They are still training a large portion of them… one funny line I had from a server was “would you like ice in your ice-tea?” The overstaffing is probably a positive to help keep things moving, as long waits for drinks and food were very common. For the most part our main server on the 4 night did the work of the assistant server and we tipped her accordingly. Overall experience in EG and RP, 3 Stars !

I am curious as to why you avoided AP? Any reasons?
What do you mean by overstaffed?
Just a comment anout the Tea, Iced tea does not refer to having ice in the tea when it is served but adding ice to the large pot right after brewing. I had to learn this when I was a waiter at my summer camp, the kitchen poeple were from Europe and they all got mad at us waiters when we all had to take the tea back to add ice. Europe is a very different place, especially when it comes to ice. But they will learn eventually

Palo
The dining room is much larger than I expected, we didn’t seem to have a difficult time getting reservations. The food was slightly better than in EG and RP. Overall the service is very ‘prompted’ and script like. For example our server asked us if we had eaten in Palo before, and was notably shocked when we responded ‘YES’ he seemed to expect that the response would be “NO” since this is a new ship. He went on to give a full explanation about the history of the restaurant etc. The same thing happened at each of the other tables seated after us. In my typical Palo experience a pizza is shared appetizer and main course. The server said, “Because the portions at Palo are so large you should only order an appetizer and a main course”. Also in a typical experience the server would bring items to ‘try’ and this didn’t happen either. Overall experience in Palo, 3.25 Stars !

Could you please elaborate on the serving size comment? I am having trouble understanding.
Remy
It’s an EXPERIENCE, and if your willing to pay for it – I would highly recommend. The service is above average, and the food is EXCELLENT. I believe that overtime the service will also be EXCELLENT. There were a few bumps that I noticed that shouldn’t happen in a truly “fine dining” experience. For example napkin paring, white on light colored pants and black on dark is the norm. In Palo napkins were paired, but not in Remy. Sometimes if someone got up to go to the bathroom they would follow him or her out of the restaurant to show the way and sometimes they did not. For anyone that does not have experience with fine dining, it will be a bit intimidating. Most of those in the restaurant were in the same situation and while the waiter is helpful in explaining the menu they steer guests to the pre set menu options instead of ordering ala carte. I’ll leave the foodies to review the offerings in detail, but I was impressed with everything I had and it was clearly worth the cover charge. Unless you don’t drink wine, expect to spend $300+ for a couple. Overall experience in Remy, 4 1/2 Stars !

Sounds like a good time, except could you please elaborate on the napkins thing? Is it that they will give you a different coloured napkin based on you clothing?

I hope Disney will specify if the cover for Remy / Palo on the Dream is also the servers tip and so how much is given to the server, and if any additional gratuity is suggested.

Also I noticed this in the Palo/Remy bathrooms and some of the other public bathrooms: It seems that the design of the sink faucet was not aligned properly to the sink basin as when you put your hands under the faucet water runs all over the counter. It’s a poor design and will need to be fixed ASAP.

Sounds like some issues there.

Pools
I commented on the Adult pool earlier. The family pools are WAY to small. Every time I walked by I wanted to pound my head against a poll. There can’t be any reason why on a LARGER ship the pools are SMALLER than on the Magic / Wonder it just boggles the mind. On the sea day of the 4-day it was clear, it was a box with kids standing in it; I couldn’t classify it as a pool in any respect. How could executives sign off on such a design? What sacrifices needed to be made to make the pools even marginally bigger? There are plenty of other ships that have larger pools. The only logical reason I could come up with for keeping the pool so small was for a safety. Maybe they feel that the smaller pools make it easier to monitor the entire pool and keep children safe?

The world may never know!

A family got on one of the elevators and blurted out “anyone else think the service on this ship sucks”; one of the Disney workers I had noticed on his laptop all week was actually on the elevator at the same time, he didn’t respond, but I asked if he had been on Disney Cruise before, he responded with a “this is #4” I was hoping that the Disney employee was taking note, as I said that I gave them (Disney) a pass on this sailing as I expected the service to be a bit rough. Truthful I hope the employee was paying attention because the father of the family that said this, is probably reflective of a large percentage of cruises that sail on DCL. They don’t obsess like many of us on the DIS board and elsewhere. They book Disney because of the service and amenities – and are not at all concerned with how the back end of the vacation experience is delivered. All they know is that “the service sucks” or “this is bad” etc.

He probably was taking note, most companies instruct their employees to not confront guests about issues but to be kind. So he may have wanted the guest to just fill out the comment card.

If you have any questions please let me know!

Thanks for the honest review!

 

[oklamomof4boys]

We are doing a B2B in June. Can you tell me what time the pools opened back up in between cruises. I've read they open them back up after they are cleaned but I don't know how long that takes. Also, was the Aqua Duck open in between cruises?

 

[CJAM]

Thank you for notifying everyone of the obstructed view! As soon a I saw your pictures, I got onto the DCL website and changed our room!

Hanging out on the verandah and enjoying the view is one of the things my husband and I are really looking forward to on our cruise in July. Unfortunately, we had one of these obstructed rooms booked...we would have been a little bummed if we had seen that a chunk of our view was missing!

 

[GoofyCrazy]

We're in a 5C room and in one of these rooms, ours is 7650. On my way to DCL website to change our room.

Thank you so much for posting this.

Melissa

 

[jfs9900]

If I had to assign a percentage to the obstruction I would say it covers approximately 20% to 25% of the view and also depends on the angle you are viewing. The obstruction was only on the left hand side (and only on the right in the adjacent cabin). I didn’t have any thing to measure with to get a specific number. It’s quite annoying and, unless DCL removes them, the cabins need to be reclassified.

The overhang of deck 11 does obstruct the upward view, making it impossible for any deck to view fireworks. Personally I think the skirted design really puts the ship at a disadvantage in terms of balcony viewing.

Overall the motion on the ship is not bad. I noticed some vibration in the aft areas of the ship but it wasn’t bothersome. The only ship services that are open before general boarding begins is Cove Café.

The server in Palo was attempting to curb “over ordering”. AP just didn’t appeal to us, it reminded me of a chuck-e-cheese or fast food location with ugly chairs and a really cheap feel.

 

[kato0627]

Can't wait to get home from work and confirm my cabin # so I can check my view.

 

[jdybnsn]

Thank you so much for posting your pictures !

Believe it or not, we actually chose one of these types of rooms (I think !?), as we thought it would be similar to those on Magic / wonder rooms like 6616 and 6116 where one of the balcony dividers is completely floor to ceiling (with a small overlap over the balcony) - which gives a much greater feeling of privacy from the room next door.

However, thanks to your great photos, I can see that even though there is a seperating panel running down between the cabins (as you rightly say, quite a large one at that !)...there still remains the same type of divider with the floor/ceiling gaps found on all the other verandahs ...so no added feeling of privacy to compensate

....looks like I need to change cabins on my cruise next year too now

.....thanks again for the info OP.

 

[stephent92]

I suppose it is all about the description and whether or not you feel that these are "Obstructed". Personally I don't think they are... but that is just me. If you feel that they are write to DCL. Did you mention it when you were onboard?

I am pretty sure that these pieces of steel will be structural and therefore can not be removed.

I have been biting my tounge on AP for so long now, that I can do it no more. I can not imagine anything worse in a place where you should be eating - a CGI turtle swimming around talking to you. I see eating as a sociable activity, where you should chat and interact with people... I can see this not being the case on the dream.

 

[jdybnsn]

Can anyone confirm & list exactly which rooms have these obstructions ...

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

As a former lifeguard a smaller pool that is overcrowded is very dangerous. Do not assume the guards can deal with this. Watch your kids

 

[insureman]

Looks like we have that obstruction for our 2/20 b2b. We have 7162 on the port side, on the starboard side it looks like it would be 7660. The panels seem to correspond with the indentation features on decks 11 and 12 and run vertically down to deck 5.

 

[Alexander]

I suppose it is all about the description and whether or not you feel that these are "Obstructed". Personally I don't think they are... but that is just me. If you feel that they are write to DCL. Did you mention it when you were onboard?

I am pretty sure that these pieces of steel will be structural and therefore can not be removed.

I have been biting my tounge on AP for so long now, that I can do it no more. I can not imagine anything worse in a place where you should be eating - a CGI turtle swimming around talking to you. I see eating as a sociable activity, where you should chat and interact with people... I can see this not being the case on the dream.

If you look at the pictures, you can see that these pieces do not appear to be structural at all. They look like they've been added on as a cosmetic touch. All it looks like they do is break up the long stretch of verandahs.

 

[insureman]

If you look at the pictures, you can see that these pieces do not appear to be structural at all. They look like they've been added on as a cosmetic touch. All it looks like they do is break up the long stretch of verandahs.

I agree, definitely a design element and not structural.

 

[mesaboy2]

I agree, definitely a design element and not structural.

Correct. They cannot be structural since they were added after Dream left Meyer Werft.

OP, thanks for answering my questions!

 

[HallsofVA]

Correct. They cannot be structural since they were added after Dream left Meyer Werft.

OP, thanks for answering my questions!

Well, technically, they were added while still at Meyer Werft I think, since they were in place before the EMS conveyance, but after initial float out from the building.