A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream!

[dizneeat]

Great, great, great, great, great update!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tom and I just love to walk around the ship at night - so peaceful! And it's so nice that Claire got to swim as late as it was - she must have been real happy!

Sorry to hear you were not happy with your stateroom host. The ones we had on our last three cruises were super sweet and overly helpful.

Can't wait for more!

BTW - I just paid off the third of our triple cruise today! Only 101 more days to count down! You are getting me so excited!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Jen-I just read it all and I can't even count how many times I got goosebumps!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!! Amazing, amazing, amazing!

Is it June yet? I can't wait for my turn to sail! (even though we'll be on the Magic-I'm sure it will be just as awesome!)

Your pictures are beautiful and give a great feel for the ship! I was in my seat when you were back at the Residence Inn and you watched her sail by.

MORE! MORE! MORE!

 

[stephielela]

What a great first day!! I can only imagine how exhausted you must have been, I'm pretty tired and I have just been reading about it!

 

[jenseib]

I finally caught up!!!

I've been looking at all of your cruise pictures on facebook, but just now went through & read your DIS report (I needed to catch up since before Easter! Oops!)

I had a million comments & questions while reading through the past 10 pages or so -- but of course now I forget!

I love all of your pictures!!! The Easter pics & ones of Claire picking flowers were super cute!!! I'm excited that you got the Dooney Wonder Tote!!! I have it & LOVE it! It was a birthday/Christmas present last year & I am sooo happy with the purchase (although it would've been better to wait & get it $70 off! LOL) I know what you mean about the DCL bags -- I wasn't impressed when I saw others post them on DIS or ebay. They look similar to the material of the Dooney Sketch bag & I actually bought one of those & exchanged it for the Wonder! I just didn't like the white (thought it would discolor too easily) or the material (it did feel like a vinyl plastic).

I've been researching cruise options all afternoon for my birthday cruise next year. I was torn between doing a longer cruise on a cheaper ship or doing a shorter cruise on the Dream. Well, YOU have convinced me, Jen!!!! All of your beautiful pictures have convinced me that I want my first cruise to be on the Dream!!! So, thank you for making up my mind for me!

Are the photographers in the main lobby every night or just the first day? I'm obsessed with photography so of course most of my questions deal with pictures in someway! LOL

I was going to ask you about your luggage but you answered that question already! When you said you went to eat at Cabana's & were walking around the ship, I wondered where your luggage was. Is it similar to ME? Do they bring it from the terminal? Or do they bring it from your resort? We will be flying in & heading directly to Port Canveral next year, so what will they do with it? Sorry for all the questions, this is all new to me! (I need to learn for my cruise clients as well as for myself!)

I'm just curious about the kids club. I am super paranoid about leaving Luke anywhere. Is there some type of door that you have to enter through or is it just a wide open space? I can just see him running out the door when no one is looking or plotting his escape! It really makes me nervous but if we cruise next year, I would like to have some alone time. I think its good for him to be with other kids as well. When we're at home, he asks everyday to play with kids!

I know I said it already, but all of your pictures are gorgeous!!!! The Dream is just so beautiful & elegant!!! I loved the pictures of the show too! I made a note of the lens & settings you used! I just bought a new lens for my Canon Xsi and have been trying it out every chance I get! I want to be an expert before our September trip!

I hope that you & your family had a Happy Easter!!!! Can't wait to hear about Day 2 on the cruise!!!!

MNDisneygirl answered most of it for you!
What lens did you get? I love my telephoto lens. It really is good...and the funny thing is several people tried to talk me out of getting it. They said I would never get a good picture without a tripod...I guess I proved them wrong.

They did have photographers every night for a limited time. The last night they were gone pretty early.

I did notice today...yes over a month after sailing ...that there was a "optional dress up" day. It was listed on the Navigator on the first page...how I missed it, I don't know. But anyways it's optional, but that happened to be the day I dressed up anyways.

Hi Jen & Claire,

Thanks so much for the GREAT trip report and pictures...but I'm ready for the REST OF IT!! I'm at work and should be earning my keep, but your report/pictures were so engaging I spent all morning reading...I REALLY hate to go back to working, so can only hope more info/pictures pop up real soon

Thanks for reading along. I tired to write up more earlier today, but my computer was going so slow, and it was semi decent outside for once, so I went ou and pulled weeds...sounds like fun, doesn't it?
I wil lfor sure have one up by tomorrow, if not tonight.

I can answer your questions about the kids club. It's VERY secure! They have "gates" at the two entrances and they are always staffed. You have to ask to pick up your child and you have to give a password that you and they know. The kids have wristbands with little sensors on them and they scan them everytime they go in or out.
when we went to pick up our kids, we told them who we were there for and they said, oh, she's in the lab over here. Then they allowed us to go find her and come back to the gate for the password/scan routine.

My girls LOVED it and did not want to leave. For them, it was way better than shopping!

For the luggage - if you go straight to the port, you bring it with you and put your cruise luggage tags on (they send these to you ahead of time). Then you leave it with the porter (and tip them) and they check it through. You don't see it again until they put it in your room that afternoon.
I believe if you are going from a WDW resort and have booked transfer with DCL, they take it with your tags on it when you get on the bus and then you don't see it again until it's in your room.

We dressed up a bit for dinner - by choice. On all my other cruises (not that many) I would wear black linen pants/capris with a few different tops. This trip I wore sundresses with a sweater. Except I did dress fancy for our dinner at Palo. They have a dress code anyway.
It was really cool that there were lots of opportunities for photo shoots. I think they had them every night.

Jen - how fun for Claire to swim late at night! It was about the only time the pool wouldn't be so crowded!!
Your food at EG looked yummy! That's why I wish we had the 4 night. Then I wouldn't have skipped dinner there to eat at Palo. I was just too full to eat dinner twice even though we took the girls to EG for our late dinner seating.

Dandelions - why is it that they seem to last SO long in my yard, but if they get picked, there's not enough water to keep them alive?

Thanks for answering all that...saves me from typing!
I did like Enchanted Garden. I really want to go a on a 4 night so I can try the pirate menu too.
Yes, those dang Dandelions will live forever in my yard. I mow over them and an hour later a new flower has appeared...how do they do that? But in the house.....DEAD!

I don't remember the name but that sounds right. I remember the table and food being the same as what we had. We also stayed at the Residence Inn and I did the same picture taking as you did. Funny stuff, great TR. Waiting til March 13, 2012 for our Dream cruise. Can't wait.

It proably was. I am really glad we stayed near by that night before. I kind of got a feel of the area at least too. Residence Inn was a great spot to go for a night as well. In the future we'll play it by ear. Depends on if we do Disney along with the trip and if we do it before or after. We got that night for free at Residence Inn with my Mom's Marriot points, so that is the reason we chose it to start with, but now I know the beds are fabulous!!!!

Great, great, great, great, great update!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tom and I just love to walk around the ship at night - so peaceful! And it's so nice that Claire got to swim as late as it was - she must have been real happy!

Sorry to hear you were not happy with your stateroom host. The ones we had on our last three cruises were super sweet and overly helpful.

Can't wait for more!

BTW - I just paid off the third of our triple cruise today! Only 101 more days to count down! You are getting me so excited!

Yay! for paying off the trip. I really wish I could get a job for a vacation fund. It's just too much of a hassle for me now though. I can't work weekends because of Claire and during the week hours are limited becuase I have to get Claire to and from School. For us to pay for child care would basically mean all the money I made would go to that...and since I live in the country I have to drive a distance...and with gas so expensive (as I read about with your car..WOW!) It isn't worth it in the end.
When she gets older, I'm sure I will do something though.

Our stateroom host was OK, but just not as great as I hoped. I was not too concerned most of the tripo...but at one point and time later on he did something that kind of irked me.

Jen-I just read it all and I can't even count how many times I got goosebumps!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!! Amazing, amazing, amazing!

Is it June yet? I can't wait for my turn to sail! (even though we'll be on the Magic-I'm sure it will be just as awesome!)

Your pictures are beautiful and give a great feel for the ship! I was in my seat when you were back at the Residence Inn and you watched her sail by.

MORE! MORE! MORE!

Hey !! Good to see you on the boards again! You go in June 2012...right? You are going to have so much fun. I would still love to go on the Magic or Wonder.

The ships are all beautiful. You almost feel like a princess yourself when you walk around on them..

I forgot to mention this earlier, but when I had taken Claire to the bathroom they had music playing (it's played through out the ship) And it was a Disney song , one that I liked real well, but I can't remember what now, but I had a dumb moment and thought..."Wow, they play disney music on this ship, how cool!" And then it hit me...DUH!!!! I'm on a "DISNEY" ship! Why wouldn't they!~

What a great first day!! I can only imagine how exhausted you must have been, I'm pretty tired and I have just been reading about it!

It was pretty tiring writing it all up. But I have to say, I had so much adrenaline going and just in awe that I did a fabulous job for the most part. Just don't sit too long at anything boring!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Loving your trip report!! Can't wait for more,

 

[Caretames1]

Now that I can see your pictures(stupid school internet filter) I really like the pictures of the auqa duck! Very artsy

Swimmimg at 11:00pm? Like Lisa said, it's vacation! Yu can sleep when you get home

 

[JPFamilyMom]

What a fun night

LOVE the sweatshirts, very nice.

I worry about my kids not wanting to stay in the kids club either...though the pictures on the Cruise website make it look like so much fun. But I can understand about Claire not wanting to miss out on any fun with you, that is sweet

Love all your pictures, the late night swim and movie sounds like fun

 

[jenseib]

Loving your trip report!! Can't wait for more,

Thanks!

Now that I can see your pictures(stupid school internet filter) I really like the pictures of the auqa duck! Very artsy

Swimmimg at 11:00pm? Like Lisa said, it's vacation! Yu can sleep when you get home

right...who needs sleep!

What a fun night

LOVE the sweatshirts, very nice.

I worry about my kids not wanting to stay in the kids club either...though the pictures on the Cruise website make it look like so much fun. But I can understand about Claire not wanting to miss out on any fun with you, that is sweet

Love all your pictures, the late night swim and movie sounds like fun

It was fun. I love the sweatshirts too! I had to stop myself from buying more than 1 on the ship.

 

[jenseib]

Day 3 ~ April 1st, Friday


Who’s the fool now? LOL! …..Ok, no one was, but I just wanted to say that since it was April Fools day!

I woke up around 6 AM…very rested and feeling refreshed.
This was the Navigator for the day.

I got dressed and headed out for some picture taking.
Carpet by the elevator.

He was out in the Elevator/Stairway hall by Cabanas.

The weather was fabulous, but windy. I tried to capture the sun rise. Not so good. At first I thought my focus was messed up.

Then I tried a picture of the Waves sign and bar.

Not much better….then it hit me…my lens was fogging up in the heat.

I found a spot to sit near the hot tub, wiped the lens off and waited for it to get used to the different temperature. I had brought my notebook along, so I wrote some more notes while I sat there.

I did a couple of test tries on the hot tub every so often.

After a few tries, it finally did clear up and I decided to walk around more and take some more shots.

Notice the plexi glass around the top of the ship. This really blocks the wind and makes it more comfortable up top.

I went on the other side of the plexi glass for this one. It’s the teen area. It was SUPER windy. It about knocked me over. I had a hard time standing in one spot to get this shot.

Sun is coming up now!

 

[Toria]

Thank you for writing your trip report! I have really enjoyed it!

 

[PirateMom]

Loving your trip report so far! Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[Mindy5767]

I hope my Caribbean cruise on RCCL is not a let-down. After reading your trip report, and we've only finished one day, that ship is SO fantastic, I just can't imagine anything measuring up!

Look, I finally got my countdown banner replaced with a new one! I need to figure out how to get one for my RCCL cruise.

It looks like the golf cart is plowing down the horse!!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I can't wait to see what you did on this day. Was this your Nassau day? I hope you did one of the excursions! Looks like a pretty day so far.

 

[bubba's mom]

Nice to see the new ships have that teen area at the bow of the ship for the kids....instead of a 'crew pool'....

 

[jenseib]

Loving your trip report so far! Can't wait to read the rest.

Thanks for reading!!!

I hope my Caribbean cruise on RCCL is not a let-down. After reading your trip report, and we've only finished one day, that ship is SO fantastic, I just can't imagine anything measuring up!

Look, I finally got my countdown banner replaced with a new one! I need to figure out how to get one for my RCCL cruise.

It looks like the golf cart is plowing down the horse!!

You will love it. I have to say I read a TR last year of a lady who went on Disney and a few months later on RCCL and she liked RCCL better.

I can't wait to see what you did on this day. Was this your Nassau day? I hope you did one of the excursions! Looks like a pretty day so far.

Yes it is and yes we did!

 

[jenseib]

Thank you for writing your trip report! I have really enjoyed it!

Thanks so much! It is kind of fun reliving it all again too!

Nice to see the new ships have that teen area at the bow of the ship for the kids....instead of a 'crew pool'....

That teen area looked nice....I was kind of jealous!

 

[jenseib]

More random shots as I walk around the ship.

I just loved taking pictures of this sign…..

 

[OregonDisneyDreamer]

My family and I are going on our first cruise ever on the Dream next week. Thank you so much for writing such a fun and descriptive trip report! I love reading all about your trip and your pictures are great. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[mickeystoontown]

More great pictures Jen. I love the furniture that looks like wicker. I think the Aqua Duck sign is super cute and don't blame you one bit for taking lots of pictures of it.

 

[jenseib]

My family and I are going on our first cruise ever on the Dream next week. Thank you so much for writing such a fun and descriptive trip report! I love reading all about your trip and your pictures are great. Looking forward to reading more.

Can I come in your suitcase? You will have a lot of fun! Are you doing 3 or 4 nights? Do you have any excursions planned?

More great pictures Jen. I love the furniture that looks like wicker. I think the Aqua Duck sign is super cute and don't blame you one bit for taking lots of pictures of it.

Thanks. I guess I wanted it from all angles.