A Canadian Family’s First Disney Cruise!

[shoppgirl]

Dream day 1:

This post is going to be a cabin review. The photos were taken over the course of the 4 nights we stayed here.

We had 2 connecting standard insides on deck 8 (category 11A). It was in a fabulous location, midship, and we were in our own little hallway. This meant that we only had adjoining cabins "behind" us, and not on either side, thus limiting/minimizing neighbouring noise. No one walks by our door unless you are in the two cabins opposite to us (so only 4 cabins to our hall/corridor). The only negative thing about having our cabin in the little hallway is that the room stewards like to park their carts in here to keep them out of the main corridor.

We choose to have two standard insides over one verandah because it gave us more floor space, two full queen beds, two washrooms, two televisons, and of course a little more privacy! . We usually closed the connecting door 3/4 of the way, leaving a small gap because that was the only way to see the TV from the bed! It worked out great. The girls loved lying in bed and watching their own On Demand movies, while DH and I relaxed in our bed watching our own shows. I did miss having a window (I have never experienced a verandah so I don't know what I'm missing there!). The portholes were cool though. It was fun looking for the guest appearances by different characters. I think DD9 started making a list of all the characters that came by!

I brought a night light and plugged it into the bedside outlet for the girls. The night light in the ceiling wasn't good (it's like a very dim white light from those flourescent light bulbs and it was too bright for me since it was in the ceiling! The light from the bedside alarm clock was bright enough to provide my cabin with enough light. I did leave the washroom light on too with the door closed. In the girls' room, I turned on one of the wall lights by the couch and then covered the sides with pillows so that it would give off a little light upwards into their room. They don't like sleeping in pitch dark.

Here are photos of our cabins:

You can see the blue glow from the alarm clock (which by the way was difficult to program!! We gave up and used the automated wake up call service) on the bedside table.

When we arrived in the cabin, we found the Navigator and our Blue Lagoon Island Beach day excursion tickets!

This is the space inside the closet

I absolutely loved the toiletries on DCL. I collected as many tubes as I could, asking Paul, our steward, to leave extra tubes of the lotions and shampoos. They remind me of the toiletries I collected when we stayed at the Grand Floridian!

The art work in our cabin:

Here are two photos of the porthole when we saw some friends come by:

It was hard to get pics of them, because by the time we saw them, it was too late after grabbing my camera, taking off the lens cap, turning it on etc! The animation is quite short lived!!! It was quite funny, because the girls never got tired of seeing them. Every single time they saw one, they would practically scream out "Look!!!!!!!!! It's **!!"

Up next: Back to the Oceaneer Lab and Muster Drill!

 

[dsnygirl2006]

LOVING your Trip Report......can't wait to read more

 

[SLM]

Someone has posted a YouTube video of all the window animations from the portholes-maybe your girls would enjoy looking at those!

 

[shoppgirl]

LOVING your Trip Report......can't wait to read more

Thank you for reading along! A lot more to come, so please stick around!

Someone has posted a YouTube video of all the window animations from the portholes-maybe your girls would enjoy looking at those!

Thanks for the tip! I will be sure to look it up and show her!

 

[markuehl]

thank you for doing this wonderful report can't wait for more!

 

[shoppgirl]

thank you for doing this wonderful report can't wait for more!

Welcome to my trip report! Thanks for following along.

 

[shoppgirl]

Dream day 1:

Our luggage was delivered and waiting for us outside our door while we were exploring our cabins!! RCCL always took forever to bring the luggage up, so I was thrilled to have our luggage so quickly. DH and I decided to start unpacking everything. The only thing I was disappointed in about the cabin was there weren't any drawers for the clothes! I actually had to put some stuff in the desk drawers and then just made a pile on the one shelf in the closet.

Once we were unpacked, DD9 was itching to do the Midship Detective Agency, and DD7 wanted to go back to the lab to finish drawing her picture she had started before we left. So I took DD7 back to the lab and DD9 and DH went to solve the case of the missing puppies.

At the lab, DD7 drew a beautiful picture of Ariel, and she had every intention of giving it to Ariel when we met her on the cruise later.

DD9 and DH only did a portion of the game before wanting to come back to the lab again to see what we were up to. They played the "steer a ship" game...it's a lot trickier than it looks apparently!

DD7's enjoyment of the club was a little short lived because she knew that we still had the muster drill ahead of us. Things like those (and the school fire drill practice they have to do) stress her out. I think she doesn't like the loud sound of alarm bells. She has always been sensitive to loud sounds. So she insisted we go to our station ahead of the 4:00 muster drill time because she didn't want to walk the stairwells with the alarm bells ringing. We left the club and because it was still too early to go to the station, we walked up to deck 11 again. We passed by Shutters on our way to find out where our books were:

Up on deck 11, we saw Goofy formally greeting people. We were excited for our first real character meet! We were really lucky as we were the last ones Goofy was able to meet before he had to leave to get ready for the Muster drill!

It was close to 4pm now, so we headed down to the Buena Vista Theater where our station was. I loved this. This is the first time we have been able to wait indoors!! It was certainly more comfortable, and DD7 was perfectly fine because you couldn't hear the alarm and it wasn't crowded.

As proof, she is all smiles now!

The funny thing about this drill is that they called out all the cabin #s that have their station here and when you hear your cabin you scream out "here". That's it. Only one person for the cabin had to say "here". How did they know if everyone who should be at the station was there???? They didn't. I did panic a little because I couldn't remember my cabin #, but luckily DH did! I wonder if they checked a little closer for those waiting out on deck? I thought they scanned or checked all cards against a list of all the passengers for their station???

Once they called out the cabins, we had to listen to the emergency procedure announcement. But there was something wrong with the recording, so the CMs in the theater had to read it out themselves.

Once we were done, we happily went up to deck 12 to watch the Sailing Away party on the deck below us. We had a great side view right above the stage area.

It WAS HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't wait to get out of the sun. So as soon as we felt the Dream start to move, we headed down to Deck 11 to grab some ice cream and drinks! We wanted to watch the sail away from the covered deck of the Promenade deck (4). This is such a great deck, so peaceful and quiet.

DDs tried out shuffle board:

We had a nice escort out of the port area:

Up next: Our first dinner in Enchanted Garden and meeting a Princess!

 

[lklasing]

I've been off the boards for a couple of days, but I was so excited when I saw a new update. I'm really enjoying your report. It is a very fun read and makes me look forward even more to our trip on the Dream next August. Can't wait for more!

 

[shoppgirl]

I've been off the boards for a couple of days, but I was so excited when I saw a new update. I'm really enjoying your report. It is a very fun read and makes me look forward even more to our trip on the Dream next August. Can't wait for more!

I really appreciate you following along and posting. You have a lot to look forward to next August.

 

[Toy Story Fan]

What Fun!!! Even though we are sailing on the Wonder in November, seeing the Dream is very exciting. We may just book another cruise on this cruise, and the Dream would be the ship we would like to go on. I am really enjoying your report. Thank you for giving us readers so much detail...greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[shoppgirl]

Dream Day 1

We hung out on Deck 4 for a little while, enjoying the little bit of breeze and shade, watching us sail out of Port Canaveral. Since we had early dining at 5:45, we decided to head in to get changed and ready for our first dinner on board. Tonight's restaurant was Enchanted Garden. I was pretty excited about this as I thought it would be the prettiest restaurant (mostly due to to great circular booths at the front of the restaurant!!)

We headed down to the dining room just after 5:45. I would suggest going past your dining time to avoid the crowds trying to enter the restaurant. When we arrived most people were seated so we practically walked in. I was hoping for the booths, but we kept walking and the next thing I notice, we are being seated at a table for 4 right next to a porthole!!! So if you don't get a booth, the next best table is one beside a window. I love having a view of the ocean while eating.

As we sat down, I noticed that on the table already, was a child's drink cup with water in it, and my dd7's name written on the lid! How cute is that?? Viola did her research and knew who we were and prepared for us. As soon as we sat down, our serving team came right up to us to introduce themselves to us: Mario from Indonesia, and Viola from Hungary. Viola took our drink orders, and we never had to tell her what we wanted for the rest of the cruise. She had our drinks on the table within a minute of us sitting down.

The girls enjoyed looking at their Tinkerbell themed menus. Mario came over and doted on the girls. He told them to circle their favourites on the menu and then after that, they could draw on the tablecloths! They thought that was the best thing ever and quickly covered their side of the tablecloth with doodles.

I took photos of the menu and all my food, so I hope you're ready for all the food pictures!

Here is dd7 enjoying the yummy bread. Each night's bread selection was delicious!

Here is our menu:

I ordered the Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower:

DH ordered the North Atlantic lobster ravioli

Next I had a Cream of Asparagus soup (with crabmeat and asparagus tips)

Then I decided to order my usual plate of slow roasted prime rib

How come is it whenever I order prime rib on a cruise ship, they always give me a huge portion of meat????? I loved it, but it was sort of overwhelming having all this meat on my plate!

DH had the much smaller portion of pan seared sea bass with risotto

I forgot to take photos of what the girls ordered for their apps and mains, but I got their desserts!

DD7 ordered a strawberry shortcake

DD9 ordered a Mickey bar:

For dessert, I always seemed to gravitate towards the sweet temptations so that I could sample a little of everything! I forgot to take a photo of the dessert menu this time (sorry!)

After we ate, we wanted to check out the restaurant a bit, and Mario told us to make sure we stopped by the fountain to find Mickey who is wearing a skirt!

After dinner, we wanted to meet another character and Snow White was appearing on deck 4. So we walked up and saw a long line, but it didn't deter! As soon as we lined up, a CM came by to tell us that Snow White was almost done, but that Tiana would be up right after and we could be one of the first to see Tiana. My girls loved the movie, and have never met Tiana so they were pretty excited to see her. We decided to wait. As we were waiting in line, I decided to check out my camera to make sure I would be ready to take photos when it was our turn. It was a great thing I did, because wouldn't you know it? The camera batter was DEAD!!!!!!! I started to panic, so I had no choice but to run (I seriously mean run!) back to the cabin to grab my point and shoot. I was a little nervous about this because I still wasn't sure where our cabin was!! Luckily, I did find it, and did not get lost. I grabbed the small camera and ran back to deck 4. Tiana had just shown up, and we were second in line. All is well!

Photos are not as good with this camera though:

We walked out on deck afterwards to take photos of our first sunset at sea

Tonight's show was the Golden Mickeys. I had hoped to go early to get good seats and was a little stressed that at 8:15, we were still trying to find our way to the theater!!!! We were constantly getting confused on this first day as to which way was aft or fore, and then which deck we were on, etc! But we finally found the theater and entered the second level/balcony. I was perpared to sit near the back, but DH walked to the very front, center, and surprisingly, there were FOUR empty seats!!!! I thought for sure they were being saved, but DH asked and they weren't! So we got awesome seats for our first show. The show was great and it was so cute to see scenes from all our favourite Disney shows. Poor DD7 was coming down with a cold this evening, and she wasn't feeling well with a sore throat and was probably just tired from all the excitement of the day (and previous 4 days). We decided to head straight back to the cabin right after the show to call it a night. One of the favourite things the girls enjoyed was just lying in bed and watching their on demand movies anyways. They watched Hop.

Here is our towel animal of the night, and the last photo for the day

Up next: Day 2!!! Breakfast and arriving in the Bahamas

 

[shoppgirl]

What Fun!!! Even though we are sailing on the Wonder in November, seeing the Dream is very exciting. We may just book another cruise on this cruise, and the Dream would be the ship we would like to go on. I am really enjoying your report. Thank you for giving us readers so much detail...greatly appreciated!!!!

Most definitely see if you can rebook another cruise while on the Wonder!! The on board rebooking incentives are great and we took advantage of it (which I will be reporting on later!). Thanks for reading and posting.

 

[3inthefamily]

Anxiously waiting for an update! My 8 year old is getting so excited for our trip on the Dream next year...I've been using your report to show him what the ship is like! You're doing a great job!

 

[shoppgirl]

Anxiously waiting for an update! My 8 year old is getting so excited for our trip on the Dream next year...I've been using your report to show him what the ship is like! You're doing a great job!

Thank you for your kind comments and I am glad you are enjoying the report and photos. Your son will absolutely love the Dream.

 

[shoppgirl]

Dream day 2:

I had set the automated phone wake up call for 7:00, but wouldn't you know it, the internal "I'm on vacation so I should wake up early and not waste time sleeping" clock woke me up way before that! I heard the girls moving around in their room and it was time to get ready for the day. Today we were arriving in the Bahamas and we would be going on our shore excursion to the Blue Lagoon Island Beach day.

We got dressed and headed up to Cabanas for our first breakfast on board.

Here is DD7 enjoying her bowl of cereal

Here is my breakfast plate: I usually like to make a BLT sandwich without the L! But that's only because they never have lettuce out at breakfast!

We were still heading into port while we were eating, and as soon as we finished, we went out on deck to watch the Dream dock.

We went back to our cabin to hang out a bit and grab some last minute things to bring on our excursion. We didn't have to meet until 9:30 in the Buena Vista Theater. The girls continued to watch their favourite movie, Hop


At around 9:20 we decided to start heading down. When we got to the theater, I waited with the girls in the seating area while DH went to line up to check in at the front of the theater. He was given wrist bands that said beach day. If you were going to the dolphin encounter or anything else at Blue Lagoon Island you would also meet here. But the beach day people also got 2 drink tickets each and a meal voucher each for lunch on the beach. We were also able to grab some towels (you can take as many as you are willing to carry) here. There were a lot of people checking in, but I noticed that a majority of them were going for the dolphin encounter.

Finally at 9:45, we walked out of the theater and headed down to disembark the ship. Once we were outside, everyone was in an orderly single file line and we stood in line on the pier waiting for a good 10 minutes. I couldn't figure out why we were walking, walking, walking, and then all of a sudden we stop! We stood in line on the pier beside the Dream watching the crew hose down the sides of the ship.

Finally the representative from Blue Lagoon Island came strolling by and she told us to follow the person in front of us as we walked because she didn't have a flag/sign to hold!

It was another 5 minute walk to the ferry boat/catamaran that would take us on a 30 minute journey to the island.

The boat ride to Blue Lagoon seemed to take a long time, although in reality it was only 30 minutes max. We passed by Atlantis and some celebrity homes.

This is a photo of the Hilton that apparently offers a day pass to use their facilities/beach. I had considered on doing this for the day, but then I thought for our first trip to the Bahamas, we might enjoy the island experience. We will probably try the Hilton next summer for the day. If any of you readers have had experience visiting the Hilton and buying a day pass I would appreciate any comments on it!

The beautiful Atlantis resort:

Isn't the water gorgeous?

We finally arrive at the Blue Lagoon Island!!!! We docked and were instructed to head left to the beach for the beach day excursion, or to go straight ahead for the animal encounters. We walked along the dock to the beach to stake out our chairs and umbrellas for the day.

Up next: A glorious day in the Bahamas!

 

[shoppgirl]

Dream day 2:

We walked to the lagoon beach area where there were plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas. Since we were the first group on the island, there were plenty of chairs to choose from, but I did notice that as subsequent groups arrived (there were 5 ships docked here on this day), chairs/umbrellas were hard to find!

For beach day guests, you get complimentary use of tubes and floats. So DH went to grab a couple for us to use in the lagoon. The lagoon area was fabulous! The water was crystal clear, a little rocky near the shoreline, but was was quite shallow and very calm. Perfect swim/play conditions for the girls.

The island also had a bouncy castle park area (which absolutely no one used because it was just too hot! But on cooler days, I can see it being a hit). Sorry, no photos of this. However, they also have a huge inflatable water park area too! They give you life jackets to go in and enjoy all the slides and climbers etc.

The girls only hung out in the float park for a short while. It was getting busy and it's not that easy to pull yourself up onto some of those things!! So we went back to the lagoon to swim until lunch. DH enjoyed floating on the inner tube and looking at all the fish swimming by his feet.

Soon it was time for lunch. There is a covered picnic table area with three different food stations. Depending on your voucher, you go to a specific station to pick up your lunch: a choice of a burger or dog, fries, fruit and a drink (fruit punch/lemonade).

After lunch, I decided to walk around the island and take some photos:

view from our picnic table:

Blue Lagoon Island:

This was taken on the other side of the lagoon. There were no lifeguards here, and a sign that says no swimming. There were no umbrellas either, so sitting here would have been very uncomfortble!

More of the island:

We went back to cool off in the lagoon after lunch. The tenders back to the port area started leaving at 1:00 (I think), and we decided to take the second one scheduled for 2:00. We knew we had another beach day coming up at Castaway Cay, so we didn't want to overdo it here. We met some nice people from the Carnival ship that set up their chairs around us. We still had some drink tickets left over so we gave them to the families to enjoy.

We packed up our stuff and headed back to the dock to wait in line for the boat that would take us back to Nassau. We waited an excrutiating 25 minutes (at least) under the baking sun for the boat to arrive! It was 20 mintues late coming in. I was not a happy camper! Luckily the girls were able to occupy themselves by watching the dolphins swim below our dock. When the boat finally arrived, we boarded and then had to wait another 10 min for all the people who sauntered over when they saw the boat docking.

We didn't get back to Nassau until 3:00 or so, and made the short walk back to the Dream.

Remember that adults must have photo ID with them to re-enter the port area. Children are exempt. We brought our driver's licenses with us. Then of course, everyone, including children need to have their KTTW card with them to go on board the ship.
Up next: relaxing on the Dream, and formal night dinner at Royal Palace.

 

[DVC Jen]

Loving your report so far. Can't wait for the next installment.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Loving your report so far. Can't wait for the next installment.

Ditto!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Love the update!!

 

[disfan33]

Loving your report! Thank you so much for sharing!