„Did you feel pressured to provide only EXCELLENT ratings?“

[annmarieda]

But we would not go far, we have a traditional cruise breakfast which I had thought about skipping, but then decided not to.
It was too yummy to let it go. So we drove to Downtown Disney, parked our car closest to the bus stop and went to Wolfgang Puck’s Express for breakfast. There was no one in line when we entered

YUM! What a great send off for your cruise.

They are the new kind of lanyards, rather silky, which I had read were not very sturdy at all, so we carefully opened the wrapper and Tom put his card in and we started on the second one. I tried to open the little pouch that is attached to the lanyard and it just was not opening. And when it finally did, it ripped the pouch. I thought about keeping and dealing with it for a minute, but then decided to go back and ask for a replacement of the pouch. They were very sweet about it, telling us that it happed a lot and handed me a new one, even opening it up for me, to make sure, this one worked.

Glad that you were able to get a replacement!

Being on our 13th cruise we have long stopped buying that photo and don’t see any need in taking one in the first place. So we got in line when one of the cast members must have read my mind and asked if we wanted to skip the photo.

13th?!!! WOW! That is pretty cool!!!

 

[perfectmatch300]

I am caught up here now, too! That leaves me with just your DLP report to catch up on. That one will have to wait until tomorrow, though.

Loved your pictures, as usual. Especially from your balcony at the GF Villa. I am totally NOT a morning person, but those sunrise views would be enough to lure even ME out of bed if I am ever lucky enough to get to stay there!

 

[Queenofallthings]

you have absolutely convinced me to add WPE to one of our DTD days for breakfast....sounds delish!

 

[dizneeat]

Woohoo, we're on the ship

Yes, didn't take us very long, did it?

On our last cruise, my mother ended up with a lanyard that, unbeknownst to her, had a slit in the plastic pouch where an opening should not be. About two days into the cruise, she looked down and saw that her KTTW card had fallen out someplace and it was then that she discovered the defect. She had to go to guest services to get the KTTW replaced (and make sure no one could charge to our account on the old one) and they gave her a replacement lanyard.

Yikes, I am glad to hear that she didn't have any more issues with it. I had heard of the new lanyards falling apart, so was checking that, but had no idea the pouches would rip right away.

Lesson learned for the next time. I'm going to examine everyone's lanyards to make sure they are all in one piece before leaving the check in desk.

Hi Karin! I’m so sorry to fall so behind - we had a week-long spring break trip and all the work that goes into getting ready for that, so I kind of fell off the DIS. I’m catching up now!

No problem, Roni. I didn't get around to much updating while Tom was away.

I sure hope the treatments have helped Tom.

Yes, they did help, unfortunately back to work is not helping with his back staying well.

I just knew you would be making a stop at Krispy Kreme!!!

Oh, you know me too well.


Oh, I have been so excited to read about and see pics of the GFV!!!!! And then ….. what a horrible check-in experience! Thank goodness a nice CM could save the day. But wow, wow, wow, the actual villa is gorgeous!!!! Oh good gravy! Willow would LOVE that little pull-out Dumbo bed! Seriously - she would be shrieking with joy over that.

Those rooms are awesome! We both would have loved to stay on, but we had a cruise ship to catch.
I can so picture Willow in the Dumbo bed. I am sure she would like it. Hm, maybe you should stay at the GF in your near future.

Beautiful early-morning pictures from your balcony. My favorite is definitely Sunrise Through a Doughnut Hole!

Tom came up with that idea and it was so much fun trying to get the perfect shot. Especially since I just could not stop laughing.

I love the pics you ran back inside to take - thanks for making the time to do that!

I just had to go back, as I was not sure we had a pic of it and it would take a while for us to come back.

Ha!!! Of course you had to stop at WPE!!!!! As usual, the breakfast looks delicious.

Cruise tradition to have breakfast at WPE ... we "had to" go there.

So excited that you are onboard the Dream. As you know, we have not done any Dream cruises (only having done 7-day ones), so I am really looking forward to hearing all about it!

We have been on the Dream so many times. She feels like home. On the other hand the Fantasy is pretty similar.
It's just that we already know so many people on the Dream and it really feels like coming home.

Just got caught up!! Looking forward to reading the rest. Love, love, love the Villa. And the view is great!!

Great for being all caught up!
And thank you for being the inspiration for this days headline!

 

[dizneeat]

Catching up!

That must be annoying having to go through Immigrations and Customs each trip, not knowing how long it's going to take.

We kind of are used to it. We hope for the best and prepare for the worst so to speak.

Oh my goodness and now a line with Hertz! I'm sure at that point you were just ready to get out of that stinkin' airport.

If we did not have a pre-paid reservation I would just have gone to another counter, but we were stuck with them. Well, in the end we did get a car and it did get us around.

Your villa is absolutley stunning! So fresh and new.

You really have to visit the VGF. They are so beautiful!

What a beautiful view of the sun rising that morning! Even better with donut and coffee in hand.

It was such a lovely start to our vacation. And we just loved being able to walk outside in a T-shirt, no pullover, no jacket required.

Would love to try WPE for breakfast one day. It looks so delicious and have heard great things about that breakfast pizza!

You have not had WPE for breakfast yet? You really missed out on something. If you feel like trying something sweet, go for the Cornflakes crusted French Toast - and be prepared to share - it's huge!

So glad that 'lines' with DCL are much smoother than at the airport. Can't wait to see what you ate for lunch at EG!

We loved to beat the lines, by walking through the upstairs line. And being Platinum lets us check in at the Concierge desk and you do no longer have a Port Arrival Time. Feels good!

You are right, I did have a five week vaca in Florida, but we still have our regular trip in Sept. It was decided to skip WDW this year, but I decided I wanted to go again. It was too late to use my pin & there were no other discounts at this time. One is coming up later, but I don't know for how much.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that a great discount comes up.

So I think we are going to Savannah & Charleston or to the southwest.

Sounds GREAT!!

I love the title of your TR. We hated all of the pushiness of the crew wanting us to mark all the surveys excellent!

It actually IS a question in the survey at the end of the cruise. They sometimes do come across as pushy, but most of them do deserve the excellent in the survey.

YUM! What a great send off for your cruise.

It's a tradition to have breakfast at WPE. It would not feel like going on a cruise without it.

Glad that you were able to get a replacement!

I was glad I caught it right away and that I DID go back and exchange it, instead of just trying to fix it myself with a bit of cellotape.

13th?!!! WOW! That is pretty cool!!!

Yes, that was no 13! And 14, 15, 16 and 17 are already booked.

I am caught up here now, too! That leaves me with just your DLP report to catch up on. That one will have to wait until tomorrow, though.

No problem, I have a hard time staying on top myself.

Loved your pictures, as usual. Especially from your balcony at the GF Villa. I am totally NOT a morning person, but those sunrise views would be enough to lure even ME out of bed if I am ever lucky enough to get to stay there!

I usually would not see a sunrise here in Austria - but what really helps when travelling to the US is, that we have a 6 hour time change and our bodies are still running on European time, so when we get up it feels much later for us, if that makes sense.

you have absolutely convinced me to add WPE to one of our DTD days for breakfast....sounds delish!

Yeah, I am very happy to have promoted my fellow countryman Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.
No, honestly, we really love and enjoy the breakfast there, but DO come HUNGRY - their breakfasts are HUGE.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 2, February 16

„Are you on a Disney cruise right now?“ - Part 3

As it turned out it was one of the round tables right in the middle of the restaurant.
And while we were still stowing our luggage under the table and got comfortable, a server made his way over, explained that this was a buffet and he would bring out drinks for us.
So we ordered some Diet Coke and while he was going to get it, we headed over to the buffet. Since I wasn’t really hungry I picked up some



tomatoes and some artichoke salad, some asparagus and sugar snap peas, some shrimp and cocktail sauce and a small piece of turkey. Tom picked a little more. In addition to what I had picked he had some



Bressaola, a wrap and a piece of roast beef. When we made it back to the table our drinks were already there and after taking pictures of our food we enjoyed our food. We are both pretty slow eaters, so we might have sat there for quite a while enjoying our lunch.
The server was very attentive and quickly brought out a refill before our glasses had even reached the half way point. So, before we left, we tipped him, then headed to one more stop before it would be time to go and check out our new stateroom.
So upstairs we went again and to the side entrance of the Royal Palace. They were doing dining changes there and we needed to check if our request had been granted. So we told them what we were there for and were told to take a seat. And then we saw Zan, one of our head servers from previous years who we had gotten to know quite well during our 11 nights on the DREAM, so well that we even got a special present from him at the end of those cruises. We sat and waited and low and behold we were told to go to his desk when it was our turn. I sat down, he looked up, thought for a few seconds and then said, “Where have you been last summer. We missed you here.” And then went on to call us by name.
And this is where they really amaze me. Yes, we had been on the ship 7 times before, but to remember the names and even the server we had had, Ana, is beyond me. I cannot remember my pupils names after the summer holidays, and he can remember the names of two people out of 4000 with a year’s gap in between. Amazing! We just asked if he could confirm that our request had been granted and yes, it had and we had a nice table all to ourselves. We thanked him and since we know how much he likes Milka chocolates, I reached into my bag and pulled out a 3 pack of Milketten, which are rolls of little individual chocolate cups. His face lit up, and I guess ours did to and we said our goodbyes and were off.
And with that it was officially time to check out our stateroom. We usually have a stateroom on the starboard side, rather midship and on a higher deck, but this time we had been tempted by the staterooms at the very aft of the ship, which have an oversized veranda. So our excitement grew while we were on the way to our stateroom. We opened the door and the room looked just like every other we had been in until ……. we opened the door to our veranda.











It was HUGE!!! We were in awe. It was really something. We walked up to the railing and looked over the edge and the view was really nice from there. Tom took a few photos and then we returned to the room to check out the gift we had gotten. A lovely zippered bag full with other goodies that we should open a little later.









I was quite pleased with it, having seen pictures of it beforehand and I might add that I was very happy we were platinum and had gotten a black one, as it turned out lateron I did not really like the golden ones. Tom peeked out the door and low and behold two of our three bags had already arrived. We started unpacking and stocked the fridge with the drinks we had brought on board and all too soon it was time to head out again.
It was time for the DVC meet. So we walked down to the meet, were again greeted by some super friendly cast members and once inside the room we were looking for a seat. While looking around we were asked if we wanted a drink.
Now usually they have Prosecco or Mimosas, but this time it looked like they only had soda. And then we were told what these “sodas” were. I picked what was called a



“Coke and rum” and Tom had (I think) “Vodka (or Gin) with Sprite”. To be honest it was the “other way around “ – not Coke with rum, but rum with a bit of Coke. Now these drinks were stiff. None the less we found seats, sat down, took tiny sips of our drinks and then the presentation began. It was actually a very nice presentation with just one “game” thrown in.
Then they started their usual routine – who had been with DVC the longest, most add ons, lived the furthest from Florida and so on.







They were selling Aulani and asked who had already been and quite a few people raised their hands. They picked someone who talked a bit about the experience and was awarded a nice bag for it. Cool. Then they went on what kind of deals they were able to offer and finally came back to talk about their newest resort, the Villas at the Grand Floridian. We were shown some great photos and Tom and I felt so privileged for having already been able to stay there.





Then they asked IF there was already someone who had stayed there before. Tom and I raised our hands, then looked around and realized we were the only ones. Yeah! And while we were still proud of being the only ones, one of the reps came over and handed us a microphone to talk about the experience. I am not a huge fan of speaking in public, but I had to and so we told them all about how nice we found the rooms, the large balcony, the double bathroom in the studios and the quite bed underneath the TV. Guess what, we won a price for telling them all about our experience and I ended up with a nice large beachbag. Yippie!



When the presentation was over we had again missed the DIS meet and greet, so we just headed back to our stateroom. When we got there, the last one of our bags had arrived, so we could unpack everything. But before that we headed out onto the veranda again.

To be continued ............ ​

 

[Teri1]

Seeing the pics of your huge veranda gets me excited about our cruise next year and our 5E cabin. . I like the new bag, we have two of the backpacks. We wish we could go on the March cruise with you, it is my birthday month too, but the price was pretty high. :/ We would not be able to swing it.

 

[englishrose47]

Glad your dining request was granted !! How awesome that the CM remembered you!!!. Nice beach bag too!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Seeing the pics of your huge veranda gets me excited about our cruise next year and our 5E cabin. . I like the new bag, we have two of the backpacks. We wish we could go on the March cruise with you, it is my birthday month too, but the price was pretty high. :/ We would not be able to swing it.

It was a lovely stateroom and we enjoyed the large veranda a lot. And even though we did we decided on a Family Stateroom again for our Fantasy cruises, that little extra space in the stateroom makes a lot of difference if you stay in the same stateroom for two weeks.

Teresa, I completely understand about the price of that March cruise. I was in shock about the price too. Thankfully we could still apply our OBB discount. Shortly after we did that they came up with the blackout dates and low and behold it IS a blackout cruise.

Glad your dining request was granted !! How awesome that the CM remembered you!!!. Nice beach bag too!!!

I was pretty sure it would the dining request would be granted, I just wanted to make sure. It was lovely to see Zan again and even more so because he remembered us so well.

I just love both bags we got, the Castaway Club one and the one I won at the DVC meet.

 

[jedijill]

What a great veranda! How cool that Zan remembered you...I don't know how they remember all the details with thousands of passengers a year.

Jill iN CO

 

[pas130]

Holy Verandah Karin WOW It's like Business Class DCL style. Loving the food pics, as always. WOW (Did I say that already)

 

[jenseib]

The verandah is fabulous!!!! I have always wanted to get one of those, but then I know to spend the extra wouldn't be worth it for us for a short cruise...but I might cave one day.

Ah the rum and cokes. Thats a popular drink around here. I hate them even if they have more coke than rum. LOL. Skip's brother used to drink those daily....and it was lots of rum with a splash of coke. He has pretty much stopped drinking now, thank goodness

 

[franandaj]

It's lovely that you were able to board swiftly and get everything you need to taken care of. Lunch looked good even if you weren't that hungry. That verandah is huge. I'm hoping that we have a similar one on the Dream next March. We need HA rooms and when I booked the rooms on that deck that were HA appeared to have much larger verandahs. I'm hoping to learn more about the Dream through your report!

What a great veranda! How cool that Zan remembered you...I don't know how they remember all the details with thousands of passengers a year.

Jill iN CO

I don't think they do. I am convinced that there are Disney Dossiers on all of us. I had one too many experiences at DL where people knew things about us that we have never divulged to that specific person. When I call for reservations on the DL Dining Line on my cell phone, they know my name, address, and if I've made a reservation at the restaurant I'm calling about before. Who's to say that there aren't other fields that our servers inform on, "likes diet coke", "loves the GM Souffle, so much that the server brought one every night following dinner in Lumiere's" and so on. That's not to say that they aren't triggered to remember you based on reading, cruised on the Dream x amount of times, the Wonder so and so number of times, and so on. I'm sure the CMs remember us by face, but I truly believe that Disney keeps the little details in a computer file somewhere to make us in awe of how the CMs remember us. I bet they have to study up on folks that were on previous cruises and were at their tables and such.

I mean, really, even the best of us can't remember details that well. I could be totally wrong, but think about it....

 

[scottny]

And I hope you decide to at least take a peek when you are travelling Europe!

I am taking a peak. I will have about 6 hours of touring Vienna. I need to do research. LOl.


That is my fear when I go to Europe is the lines for Customs.
LOL. They see you coming and put that “hot now” sign on. LOl
Ooh nice room.
Nice view from the balcony.
Nice sunrise pics.
MMM, the food at WGP looks good.
Nice that she let you bypass the photo.
And the feeling full begins. LOL. I do love all the food pics. They make me drool.
Nice veranda.
Ooh! Love the bag that was left.
Nice beachbag.
I am all caught up again.

 

[dizneeat]

What a great veranda! How cool that Zan remembered you...I don't know how they remember all the details with thousands of passengers a year.

Jill iN CO

It was an awesome and HUGE veranda and we really loved it.

There is a file on every guest and the CMs CAN even make notes to it (for like if you are a good tipper or a very picky guest). But it was amazing as he did not even had a chance to look us up in the computer.

On the other hand - we have done 8 cruises on the Dream and we have always tried to stay with Zan and his team (especially when Ana was still working on the Dream). He always got a BIG tip and we always bring a LOAD of Milka chocolate which he loves (We handed out about 10 pounds of Milka in a four day cruise ). So this might be an indicator on how he really remembered us.
Same with Oxana - she works in the shops and we have spent quite some time with her. When we entered the shop and she looked at us, we KNEW that she KNEW us. She "flew" over and a lot of hugs were exchanged.

Holy Verandah Karin WOW It's like Business Class DCL style. Loving the food pics, as always. WOW (Did I say that already)

It was an awesome veranda! We loved it.
And even though it was great, we decided against this room on our summer 2015 cruises. We are going back to a Family Stateroom mid ship, which is a bit larger than this one and has one of the awesome rainforest showers.

The verandah is fabulous!!!! I have always wanted to get one of those, but then I know to spend the extra wouldn't be worth it for us for a short cruise...but I might cave one day.

It was a wonderful veranda, Jen.
To be honest, for us it was a step down, we usually have a Family stateroom on a higher up deck (8 and 10), but we wanted to try this room for a change. Saved some money and the veranda was great.
Since I think you had a veranda room anyway, these might actually be cheaper than what you had.

Ah the rum and cokes. Thats a popular drink around here. I hate them even if they have more coke than rum. LOL. Skip's brother used to drink those daily....and it was lots of rum with a splash of coke. He has pretty much stopped drinking now, thank goodness

OMG, that was such a stiff drink - I cannot believe your BIL would drink it and did he work on the farm then? I would not have been able to.

It's lovely that you were able to board swiftly and get everything you need to taken care of. Lunch looked good even if you weren't that hungry. That verandah is huge. I'm hoping that we have a similar one on the Dream next March. We need HA rooms and when I booked the rooms on that deck that were HA appeared to have much larger verandahs. I'm hoping to learn more about the Dream through your report!

We were so lucky that we came from the parking lot and could use the upstairs security checkpoint. No line was so nice for a change.
Did you get a HA room at the back of the ship? The ones midship have a "longer" veranda - some friends of ours had one and we visited them. But the ones at the very back have verandas along the side of the ship and are HUGE!
Ours was not a HA one.

I don't think they do. I am convinced that there are Disney Dossiers on all of us. I had one too many experiences at DL where people knew things about us that we have never divulged to that specific person. When I call for reservations on the DL Dining Line on my cell phone, they know my name, address, and if I've made a reservation at the restaurant I'm calling about before. Who's to say that there aren't other fields that our servers inform on, "likes diet coke", "loves the GM Souffle, so much that the server brought one every night following dinner in Lumiere's" and so on. That's not to say that they aren't triggered to remember you based on reading, cruised on the Dream x amount of times, the Wonder so and so number of times, and so on. I'm sure the CMs remember us by face, but I truly believe that Disney keeps the little details in a computer file somewhere to make us in awe of how the CMs remember us. I bet they have to study up on folks that were on previous cruises and were at their tables and such.

I mean, really, even the best of us can't remember details that well. I could be totally wrong, but think about it....

Disney does keep a file on every guest. Ana told us when we sailed with her. They even can take notes like heavy tipper or difficult guest. SOME dining is noted, like allergies. They all have to look at the files of their guests.
But what gets me is people like Zan - they cannot learn 4000 guest files every 3 or 4 days and you could tell he was surprised to see us, but still remembered our names.
I think he DID remember them. He was our head server for 8 cruises on the Dream, one of them being a back to back to back. We had a lot of fun together and we became really good friends with one of the servers in his group, Ana. We always requested Ana (and therefore he was our head server). We tip well (as you have already found out) and come with a suitcase full of Milka (chocolate). We handed out 10 pounds of it over the course of 4 days.
So, while they might have a peek into the computer to "know" who you are, there are still some who remember you.

Let me give you another example. We have been guests of Ann-Marie in Palo before she moved on to Concierge.
Now two years ago we were on the tram in Castaway Cay and she got on in our row. It was her who said that she knew us. We talked and we told her that we remembered her from Palo and then she said - out of nowhere - "you were the one who brought her own tea for High Tea." No way could she have looked that up beforehand as we didn't even stay Concierge. So yes, some CMs DO remember you, because you stand out and in my case, are odd. I walk around and hand out chocolate, we stay on for extended periods of time AND, I bring my own tea for High Tea.

 

[dizneeat]

I am taking a peak. I will have about 6 hours of touring Vienna. I need to do research. LOl.


That is my fear when I go to Europe is the lines for Customs.
LOL. They see you coming and put that “hot now” sign on. LOl
Ooh nice room.
Nice view from the balcony.
Nice sunrise pics.
MMM, the food at WGP looks good.
Nice that she let you bypass the photo.
And the feeling full begins. LOL. I do love all the food pics. They make me drool.
Nice veranda.
Ooh! Love the bag that was left.
Nice beachbag.
I am all caught up again.

Scott, I don't think you will have such a hard time entering Europe. Us Europeans do NOT take finger prints or photographs. They will check your passport and that is it. No long lines there.
And aren't you coming from another European city? Then it is even easier.

As for Vienna. Once you have gone through customs, follow the signs to CAT (City Airport Train) and take it into the city. It takes about 20 minutes (pick up a timetable so you know which one to use to get back to the city.) When you get off (at Wien Mitte, Landstrasse) you are only two stops away from the most famous church in Vienna - St. Stephen's. Use U3 to Stefansplatz. The church is breathtaking. Let me know if you need more info. From there you can walk to to world famous Vienna Opera House and the Ring Strasse where a lot of famous buildings are and where the Opera ball is held every year. Right there at the corner is the Hotel Sacher, which is home to the Sacher Torte - FAMOUS. IF you want to sample some coffee and Austrian cake than I would recommend the "Demel" patissier to the Emporer of Austria. It is right down the Graben (other direction) from St. Stephen's. Try one of their spiked coffees and pick a cake from the display case! AWESOME. If you walk further along you will come to the Heldenplatz and the Hofburg!
Another thing to see is Schloss Schoenbrunn, the castle where the Emporer and his wife Sisi lived. From Stefansplatz take the U1 to Karlsplatz and then the U4 to Schoenbrunn. It is worth going there and you should be able to do both. Let me know if that helped.

 

[Linda67]

Love that Veranda!!
Those rooms in the AFT are really appealing. We usually go mid-ship, high deck but I love the look of that space

 

[dizneeat]

Love that Veranda!!
Those rooms in the AFT are really appealing. We usually go mid-ship, high deck but I love the look of that space

We really enjoyed the large veranda and spent a lot of time out there. But for all four of our upcoming cruises we have gone back to mid ship, higher deck. We are deck 7 on the Magic and 10 on the Dream.
And we returned to booking family rooms again, it's just a little more space, but over the course of 2 weeks it makes more sense.

 

[franandaj]

I can see why everyone would remember you two, especially with your goodies, tips and gifts. We have three cruises on the Wonder from November to May, so I think we're going to tip everyone, and bring along Ghiradelli Chocolates either that or See's Candy to pass out to the CMs. Both are local to California, hopefully they'll appreciate at taste of our home.

You're giving me some great ideas!

 

[dizneeat]

HAPPY EASTER to all our friends on the DISboards!



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