disneywonderfun
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2010
A view of our cabin (the one with the large balcony) from the ship model in the concierge lounge
Our recent cruise on the Disney Dream was exceptional in so many ways that hopefully this review will be able to convey our experience as fully as possible. We originally decided on a Disney Dream cruise for the fall of 2011 after enjoying previous cruises on the Magic and Wonder during the previous two years.
We opted for the Walt Disney Suite which is classified as a “Concierge Royal Suite with Verandah”. It is located on the port side of Deck 12 forward with its nearly matching Roy Disney Suite on the starboard side. Listed at 1781 square feet including the balcony, it is the largest cabin category available on the Disney fleet.
We arrived at Port Canaveral around 1:15 pm after spending the morning visiting the Kennedy Space Center. The process of checking-in at the Port was exceptionally quick and efficient. A Disney representative escorted us from the check-in area, over to the kids club registration area, and then directly onto the ship. The entire process at the Port took less than 15-20 minutes from our arrival. The timing was almost perfect as we were allowed to immediately go to our cabin. Before checking our new home for the next five days, we stopped by the concierge lounge. The concierge staff on our cruise included Thomas, Julia, and Melanie. We had met Thomas previously on the Disney Wonder the prior year when we stayed in the Roy Disney Suite. Although I will comment more on our concierge staff throughout this review, suffice it to say that they were all outstanding. After a few minutes relaxing in the lounge, Thomas walked us over to our cabin to provide us with a tour.
As we entered the cabin, we were first taken by the open floor plan. As opposed to the Roy Disney Suite on the Wonder, the living spaces are not compartmentalized. There are basically three major areas to the cabin: the living/dining room, the bedroom, and the balcony. Within those areas, however, there is some level of further subdivision. Immediately adjacent to the entryway is a small kitchenette which includes a sink, microwave, wine refrigerator, Jura coffeemaker, full-size refrigerator (stocked daily with cans of soda and milk), and extensive dishware/glassware. A double sliding glass window interconnects the kitchenette to the area adjacent to the dining room table. A relatively modest bathroom including a shower is located off the entry hallway. Opening into the living/dining room is a large dining room table with eight seats. Along the wall to the right of the table are two Murphy beds. One is a full size bed while the other is a twin. Both include sliding curtains which entirely surround each bed and allow for a surprising amount of privacy. Each Murphy bed has a reading light. The living room area has a semicircular style couch as well as a separate chair and two ottomans. The flat screen television is fairly large and associated with a large built-in storage until. Something new on the Dream for us were free “on demand” movies. On the Wonder we would borrow DVDs from the concierge. However, with a fairly large selection of “on demand” movies, we did not have to borrow a single DVD. Somewhat unhelpful with Disney’s setup is that you cannot watch a second “on demand” movie while the first one is playing on another television.
The open floor plan of the living/dining room
Nice touches throughout the cabin
The kitchenette
The bedroom includes a queen-size bed with several pillows. An additional pillow menu is available and provides a wide variety of choices. Four wave phones are provided on the desk of the bedroom. Another television with DVD player is included. Several large closets, a safe, slippers, and robes are also in the bedroom. The bedroom can be made private from the living room area by closing the French doors. The ceiling does have twinkle lights. The master bathroom has virtually everything you might want. A two person Jacuzzi is prominently placed in the middle. A two sink vanity with yet another television built into the mirror is directly adjacent to the Jacuzzi. A separate rain shower with an independently controlled sauna is also in the bathroom. The windows can be changed from clear to opaque by a wall switch.
The very elegant bedroom
The bathroom with the two person Jacuzzi & steam shower
The mirror television in the bathroom
The Murphy beds
The balcony is the central area for relaxation in the Walt Disney Suite. A rough guess is that the balcony must constitute somewhere around 600 square feet. There are three areas where Disney placed furniture on the balcony. In addition, an outdoor whirlpool with underwater multicolor lights is on the balcony.
The balcony
Another beautiful sunset
So, what was our favorite aspect of the cabin. I think the balcony with the whirlpool was unquestionably the most memorable. While out on the open sea, you feel like you are in your own private world despite the four thousand other passengers on board. If you cannot sleep at night, you can always go outside and sit in the 102 degree whirlpool and just let whatever concerns simply melt away. Our kids (4 and 10) basically treated the whirlpool like their own small swimming pool.
The Royal Suites on the Dream have a few perks that otherwise are not available elsewhere. According to the concierge staff, only the Royal Suites can order Palo for room service. We had that same perk on the Wonder and did not hesitate to use it again on the Dream. A menu for Palo is available in the concierge lounge and your order is placed with any of the concierges that happen to be there. Of note, the one bedroom suites on the Dream are also allowed to order from any of the three rotational restaurants as well (but not Palo). When Palo is brought for room service, they setup your dining room table with a tablecloth and generally bring the meal in three waves: appetizers, main courses, and desserts. If you ever wanted your children to be able to dine at Palo, I think this is basically the only possible option to have it almost happen. Another nice perk of the Royal Suite is that you are provided with unlimited internet usage. The other rooms on the concierge level are provided 100 free minutes. I found the internet service to be entirely reasonable. Some websites which require large data transfer rates (i.e. Skype) are blocked from use. Nevertheless, I never had much of a problem connecting and staying online. We brought our own iPad on the trip although concierge guests are able to borrow an iPad while onboard (although those did appear to be the iPad 1 version).
Palo delivered to the room - antipasti plate
Palo delivered to the room - dessert
When I thought about this review, I decided to limit my commentary about what one can expect when staying specifically in the Walt Disney Suite. So, I am not going to spend any time whatsoever discussing the general ship details, Castaway Cay, the rotational restaurants, etc. Nevertheless, there were various additional aspects that made our trip truly memorable. First and foremost, the concierge staff was absolutely great! Thomas, Julia, and Melanie each have their individual strengths but all were incredibly helpful. Basically no request was beyond their ability to resolve. More importantly, however, they were able to truly anticipate our needs as the voyage progressed. For example, our children love Mickey Bars. Well, since we have a full size refrigerator, our concierge brought us eight Mickey Bars to have in our freezer. They even brought up another supply of Mickey Bars without our asking after we had some friends over on the balcony one evening and consumed all of the ice cream! Another example of the quality of the concierge staff concerns my daughter’s hobby of collecting Disney pins. When Julia noticed our daughter’s lanyard, she took it upon herself to coordinate a “Magical Moment” where our daughter was the official passenger representative to the Officer’s Pin Trading event on the last night of the cruise. She assisted in the event and was even given a very special Disney cruise line pin for all her hard “work”. I also would hate to not mention our cabin steward, Jose. He was simply spectacular in the upkeep of our cabin.
Entry to the concierge area
The concierge lounge
Food display in the concierge lounge
The concierge sun deck
I am certain there are more than a few things I have forgotten to mention. Nevertheless, I hope this review was helpful for anybody considering a voyage on the Dream.
A full video of the cabin can be found on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3FjccJ-Tw0
Bill
We sailed in the Roy Disney suite the last time and now we are going to cruise in Sept, 2012 on the Fantasy in the Walt Disney Suite. Wow, I can't wait to be on our cruise:
Does anyone know who the concierge staff will be on the Fantasy?
