Ive been reading the DIS for years but never bothered to sign up as there were certainly people more qualified than I to answer any question or address any situation. However, I did want to offer my opinion of our recent cruise as some issues I was concerned about due to what I read on here turned out to be non-issues. This is just a comment on our experience and as we all know, people can have different interpretations. We choose a 3-night cruise due to difficult schedules and my 6th grade sons magnet school curriculum. I was terrified of him missing more than 1 1/2 days of school and the 3-night cruise nicely starts on a Thursday and the Friday of our cruise was a no-school day. Ive read a lot of theories about who takes the 3-day cruises and I admit to feeling a somewhat insulted by the occasional post. The 3-day cruise made for a wonderful, albeit exhausting, long weekend! We were on the Wonder in 2005 and found the Dream to be just a beautiful and elegant with the perfect Disney touches. I traveled with my mother, husband and 9- and 11-year-old sons in an extended balcony cabin and inside cabin.
We had an 11 a.m. arrival time and were promptly delivered by Michael of Executive VIP Limo. Now, the limo was not what I expected. It was a white party limo with colored/strobe-type lights on the inside. Heres what I loved. He arrived at POP to pick us up (had always wanted to try a Value, kids loved it!) on time at 9:30. We stopped at Walmart for water and munchies (ok, and two bottles of wine). AND he delivered us to the port nicely at 10:55. The cost was less than Disney transportation and more importantly, we arrived early. Check in was a breeze. We had boarding #3 and were on the ship, done with lunch and the kids were on the AquaDuck by noon. I understood the way Cabanas is supposed to work by what I read here but I never heard any mention of the pod concept by any CMs. Having appropriate signage or having the hand wipe or greeter person mention something might have alleviated some confusion. We never had any awkward encounters with anyone while we waiting to pop in at pods but were not terribly pushy and just waited until we had an opportunity. My mother loves vegetables and desserts and she was in heaven. The kids always found something new to try and were happy. I thought I read somewhere there are CMs available to help you find a table but that wasnt our experience. Although it would have been welcome once or twice.
The pool wasnt too crowded whenever the kids wanted to get in the water although that tended to be in the evening to bob around in the water and watch a movie. The AquaDuck occasionally had unscheduled closings for various reasons. We didnt let it bother us but would have said Lets see if the AquaDuck is open so no one is too disappointed had we known it would be an ongoing issue. We went on the AquaDuck late one night and there was no line. Quite nice! My husband and I commented several times while walking around we felt as though we had the ship to ourselves. We were worried that wed feel crowded all the time.
We were in 5026 at the front of the ship and loved the room.
We felt for the adults who had to put up with the people traipsing through the adult area. I only saw kids do anything other than walk through quickly once, and in that case a mother was with two teens and there was no one else around. Its just an odd setup for those trying to relax and those trying to get to their destination. I really regret not trying to hot tubs. They were frequently empty.
We ALL loved the lab and club. I was afraid my 9-year-old would feel he was too old but he had a wonderful time and got to feel smug that we, including his older brother, wanted hang out during the open houses. I never felt the club/lab was crowded. We had several nice chats with the CMs. It was once disorganized when we needed to check my son out but waiting 15 minutes didnt seem like such a big deal.
We took the mixology class and had a nice time. Tried some good drinks and had some fun talking to our classmates.
We didnt truly visit the adult venues probably because the cruise was short and we were with my mother and kids on a family vacation. The people whove alluded to the lack of activity are probably spot on. When we walked through to check them out we werent greeted by the bartenders and there were no other patrons so we kept walking. There was nothing that we found overly enticing, which was a shame. We do like to hang out and have an adult frosty beverage or two. We did have dinner at Palo and enjoyed our meal but it wasnt rave worthy. Although we did rave repeatedly over the the lemon/basil martini. Yum.
Heres the big, controversial thing I want to get across. My 9-year-old wore shorts to dinner one night. Hes not the biggest eater and I think was feeling a little seasick in the evenings and getting through dinner was a chore for him. He didnt do anything disruptive but would sit quietly looking despondent until we left whatever restaurant we were in. So I told him he could wear shorts and a polo shirt, wed stop in AP on the last night, visit with grandma and our table mates for a few minutes and get out. He lasted most of the dinner and was very amused when the waiter brought him a plate with Nothing written in chocolate as he frequently didnt order food. He in no way was made to feel uncomfortable and as I was furtively looking around the room to see if anyone was shooting daggers at the bad mommy I noticed no one cared what anyone else was doing and/or wearing. Everyone was involved with their own table. I must add that while he didnt eat much, he did scarf down my plate of olives and parmesan cheese that I brought back from Cove Cafe to enjoy on the verandah.
A few last thoughts. We rarely felt crowded. We didnt relax or do as much as we wanted to on the ship due to the length. We loved the extended balcony of our room but also liked the layout of my mothers inside cabin because you didnt have to move around the end of the bed as you moved through the cabin. Also loved seeing the Tangled lanterns in her porthole at night! Our stateroom attendants were attentive. In fact, one day my mother was addressing one of my sons by the wrong name and her cabin attendant gently said, I think thats Kyle. Impressive. We cant recall seeing any unruly children or obnoxious people. There were enough tables/deck chairs/show seats/castaway cay loungers that we never felt we needed to make a conscious effort to employ a strategy for seating. We showed up for shows 10 minutes before show time and took seats in the balcony. I did see two seats in the box seat area saved by flip flops. One on each chair. A bit tacky but I was on vacation and didnt let it bother me. LOVED the wave phones. My 11-year-old was given unprecedented freedom due to those phones and greatly enjoyed his Edge time and kept in touch constantly. He knew the ship so well he guided us where ever we wanted to go. We never stood in line for photos with characters but I spent a great deal of time watching from an upper balcony because I love to see the little girls in their costumes. The lines seemed remarkably short, so much so that we commented on it.
Everyone was right about the chicken fingers and chocolate chip cookies. I scoffed and I was wrong. Delicious!
Many thanks to all of you who assisted, unknowingly, in my planning. I smiled every time I passed a FE.
We had an 11 a.m. arrival time and were promptly delivered by Michael of Executive VIP Limo. Now, the limo was not what I expected. It was a white party limo with colored/strobe-type lights on the inside. Heres what I loved. He arrived at POP to pick us up (had always wanted to try a Value, kids loved it!) on time at 9:30. We stopped at Walmart for water and munchies (ok, and two bottles of wine). AND he delivered us to the port nicely at 10:55. The cost was less than Disney transportation and more importantly, we arrived early. Check in was a breeze. We had boarding #3 and were on the ship, done with lunch and the kids were on the AquaDuck by noon. I understood the way Cabanas is supposed to work by what I read here but I never heard any mention of the pod concept by any CMs. Having appropriate signage or having the hand wipe or greeter person mention something might have alleviated some confusion. We never had any awkward encounters with anyone while we waiting to pop in at pods but were not terribly pushy and just waited until we had an opportunity. My mother loves vegetables and desserts and she was in heaven. The kids always found something new to try and were happy. I thought I read somewhere there are CMs available to help you find a table but that wasnt our experience. Although it would have been welcome once or twice.
The pool wasnt too crowded whenever the kids wanted to get in the water although that tended to be in the evening to bob around in the water and watch a movie. The AquaDuck occasionally had unscheduled closings for various reasons. We didnt let it bother us but would have said Lets see if the AquaDuck is open so no one is too disappointed had we known it would be an ongoing issue. We went on the AquaDuck late one night and there was no line. Quite nice! My husband and I commented several times while walking around we felt as though we had the ship to ourselves. We were worried that wed feel crowded all the time.
We were in 5026 at the front of the ship and loved the room.
We felt for the adults who had to put up with the people traipsing through the adult area. I only saw kids do anything other than walk through quickly once, and in that case a mother was with two teens and there was no one else around. Its just an odd setup for those trying to relax and those trying to get to their destination. I really regret not trying to hot tubs. They were frequently empty.
We ALL loved the lab and club. I was afraid my 9-year-old would feel he was too old but he had a wonderful time and got to feel smug that we, including his older brother, wanted hang out during the open houses. I never felt the club/lab was crowded. We had several nice chats with the CMs. It was once disorganized when we needed to check my son out but waiting 15 minutes didnt seem like such a big deal.
We took the mixology class and had a nice time. Tried some good drinks and had some fun talking to our classmates.
We didnt truly visit the adult venues probably because the cruise was short and we were with my mother and kids on a family vacation. The people whove alluded to the lack of activity are probably spot on. When we walked through to check them out we werent greeted by the bartenders and there were no other patrons so we kept walking. There was nothing that we found overly enticing, which was a shame. We do like to hang out and have an adult frosty beverage or two. We did have dinner at Palo and enjoyed our meal but it wasnt rave worthy. Although we did rave repeatedly over the the lemon/basil martini. Yum.
Heres the big, controversial thing I want to get across. My 9-year-old wore shorts to dinner one night. Hes not the biggest eater and I think was feeling a little seasick in the evenings and getting through dinner was a chore for him. He didnt do anything disruptive but would sit quietly looking despondent until we left whatever restaurant we were in. So I told him he could wear shorts and a polo shirt, wed stop in AP on the last night, visit with grandma and our table mates for a few minutes and get out. He lasted most of the dinner and was very amused when the waiter brought him a plate with Nothing written in chocolate as he frequently didnt order food. He in no way was made to feel uncomfortable and as I was furtively looking around the room to see if anyone was shooting daggers at the bad mommy I noticed no one cared what anyone else was doing and/or wearing. Everyone was involved with their own table. I must add that while he didnt eat much, he did scarf down my plate of olives and parmesan cheese that I brought back from Cove Cafe to enjoy on the verandah.
A few last thoughts. We rarely felt crowded. We didnt relax or do as much as we wanted to on the ship due to the length. We loved the extended balcony of our room but also liked the layout of my mothers inside cabin because you didnt have to move around the end of the bed as you moved through the cabin. Also loved seeing the Tangled lanterns in her porthole at night! Our stateroom attendants were attentive. In fact, one day my mother was addressing one of my sons by the wrong name and her cabin attendant gently said, I think thats Kyle. Impressive. We cant recall seeing any unruly children or obnoxious people. There were enough tables/deck chairs/show seats/castaway cay loungers that we never felt we needed to make a conscious effort to employ a strategy for seating. We showed up for shows 10 minutes before show time and took seats in the balcony. I did see two seats in the box seat area saved by flip flops. One on each chair. A bit tacky but I was on vacation and didnt let it bother me. LOVED the wave phones. My 11-year-old was given unprecedented freedom due to those phones and greatly enjoyed his Edge time and kept in touch constantly. He knew the ship so well he guided us where ever we wanted to go. We never stood in line for photos with characters but I spent a great deal of time watching from an upper balcony because I love to see the little girls in their costumes. The lines seemed remarkably short, so much so that we commented on it.
Everyone was right about the chicken fingers and chocolate chip cookies. I scoffed and I was wrong. Delicious!
Many thanks to all of you who assisted, unknowingly, in my planning. I smiled every time I passed a FE.
