August 16, 2011, Disney Dream - Part 3

[disfaninca]

All this talk about kids in school is bringing back so many memories. This year has been the first year that I have not had a child in school, and let me tell you, it has been so strange. For the first time I do not know when school gets out or when it actually starts. It has definitely been an adjustment for me.

 

[disfaninca]

I was watching that also, DD's teacher encouraged them to watch it, After seeing the ASL idol made me realize I really want to learn ASL. The organization GRO came from Washington DC to judge it, it was so cool. I guess word got out from GRO and there were quite a few deaf people who came and they were clapping like they did on the show. I hope your daughter keeps up with it, my daughter didn't really start to like it until this year, so tell her to stick with it.
We were on a Disney cruise in 2008 and a young girl was at guest svcs trying to ask them something and they couldn't understand her so my daughter signed to her, and then told guest svcs what she wanted, and I can't tell you how I felt that my DD could help someone.

Ahhhhh...tomorrow is the countdown!!!!!! BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!

That is so great she was able to help out someone. You must have been so proud of her. I also have thought about wanting to learn ASL. I am now really thinking about more seriously.

 

[Amanda132]

I'm trying to get my sister to teach me a little ASL too! So far she's taught me how to sign "I'm going on the Disney Dream August 16, 2011." That's obviously the most important sentence!

 

[disfaninca]

I'm trying to get my sister to teach me a little ASL too! So far she's taught me how to sign "I'm going on the Disney Dream August 16, 2011." That's obviously the most important sentence!

I can't think of a better sentence!!

 

[BigDogHU75]

GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
BOYS AND GIRLS!
WE SET SAIL FOR OUR DREAMY TWO TIMES THE FUN IN THE CARIBBEAN SUN CRUISE IN 12 WEEKS! THAT IS ONLY 84 DAYS AWAY!

​

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Hey everyone,

To continue where I left off with our recent 3-Day Dream cruise:

While people were still coming onto the ship, Steve and I walked around checking everything out. We peeked into the dining rooms, knowing that we weren't going to try them out this time, but wait until we were with the twins in August. All of the dining rooms are beautiful! We also went up to the Vista Spa to check out the amenities. Before the cruise I had booked the Couples Villa, but changed my mind and decided to spend the money on a Serenity Bay Cabana. I decided that it would be more penny wise (ha!) to have a cabana for several hours than enjoy the spa stuff for less time. That said, the spa rooms look amazing, so you can't go wrong doing that either!

I wanted to hear about the shopping in Nassau (a place I've only been to once before about thirty years ago) so we went down to the Buena Vista Theatre to listen to Whitney (the Disney personal shopping guide) talk about the ins and outs of shopping in DCL places. I wanted to upgrade a piece of jewelry I had gotten in Grand Cayman on my last cruise, so it ended up that Whitney told me she'd meet us at the store the next day after our excursion to Atlantis ended. I know nothing about gemstones, so was glad to hear that she would help us.

The sailaway party was already in full swing when we went up to the upper decks. Cast members were handing out streamers, drinks were being passed around, kids were playing in the water, and the aquaduck had acquired quite a line by then! The ship blasted the horn with the famous sound "When you wish upon a star" (which brought a huge smile and a catch in my throat) and we were off! There were a couple of cast members on land who waved to us with their big mickey hands.

Steve and I wandered back upstairs to deck 12. The concierge lounge was full of people and free drinks were available as well as other finger foods. We took our glasses of wine and went out on our verandah to watch the boat move out of the port and into open water. We called the kids one last time while our cellphones still worked. All was well at home, so we sat back in our lounge chairs and enjoyed feeling the ship go into the ocean. The water was unbelievably pretty and those love bugs were now all gone!

We got unpacked (as mentioned earlier there were plenty of shelves and cupboards to put our things into). Steve logged into the Surf at Sea stuff to get his computer all connected. Turns out that if you are in concierge you pay the $40 for 100 minute fee, but you get it refunded back at the end of the cruise. The connections are really slow, so Steve used it rarely to check email. After we got settled, we went downstairs to see the 6:15 show called The Golden Mickeys. It was great! Loved it......

We got dressed for Palo and went upstairs. There is a nice bar between Palo and Remy so we went there and had a drink. Our reservation was for 7:40pm and the restaurant was still fairly empty when we got there. They seated us up on the second level and we were the only ones there except for a couple of tables of crew members. There must have been at least 10 tables that remained open the whole time we were there. We figured that since it was the first night of a three day cruise, maybe people wanted to eat in the family dining areas since if you went to Palo you would miss one of the restaurants on the three day cruise. Our service was "okay" kind of slow given the relatively uncrowded nature of the restaurant. Steve enjoyed his rack of lamb, but my fish (wrapped in parchment) was rather bland. We passed on the chocolate souffle (I planned on getting it the next night) and left deciding that while our meal was good, it wasn't over the top. Our Palo experience on the Magic last October was definitely better. We still had fun, though, and we planned on going back again the next night.

After we were done, we went back to our room to change into comfy clothes. Then we headed down to Evolution as I had convinced Steve that we needed to check out the adult lounges. "Pink" is pretty, "Skyline" is cool, and there are definitely adult bars and areas all over the place. In "Evolution", a show called "Match Your Mate" was just about to start. Steve made me promise not to volunteer us which was just fine with me! We did enjoy the show (three couples are picked) and a dynamic duo who had been married 47 years won the bottle of champagne.

We then headed over to the shops to check out the merchandise. Lots of inaugural voyage pins, shirts, to be had. The stores even had the large vinylmation mickeys that I had lugged onto the ship (though theirs were $42 instead of my $14.99 ones on sale!). I bought a few things for the girls and we called it a night. Tomorrow would be Nassau Day!

More later.... Gotta get the twins on the school bus soon.

 

[BigDogHU75]

Hey everyone,

To continue where I left off with our recent 3-Day Dream cruise:

While people were still coming onto the ship, Steve and I walked around checking everything out. We peeked into the dining rooms, knowing that we weren't going to try them out this time, but wait until we were with the twins in August. All of the dining rooms are beautiful! We also went up to the Vista Spa to check out the amenities. Before the cruise I had booked the Couples Villa, but changed my mind and decided to spend the money on a Serenity Bay Cabana. I decided that it would be more penny wise (ha!) to have a cabana for several hours than enjoy the spa stuff for less time. That said, the spa rooms look amazing, so you can't go wrong doing that either!

I wanted to hear about the shopping in Nassau (a place I've only been to once before about thirty years ago) so we went down to the Buena Vista Theatre to listen to Whitney (the Disney personal shopping guide) talk about the ins and outs of shopping in DCL places. I wanted to upgrade a piece of jewelry I had gotten in Grand Cayman on my last cruise, so it ended up that Whitney told me she'd meet us at the store the next day after our excursion to Atlantis ended. I know nothing about gemstones, so was glad to hear that she would help us.

The sailaway party was already in full swing when we went up to the upper decks. Cast members were handing out streamers, drinks were being passed around, kids were playing in the water, and the aquaduck had acquired quite a line by then! The ship blasted the horn with the famous sound "When you wish upon a star" (which brought a huge smile and a catch in my throat) and we were off! There were a couple of cast members on land who waved to us with their big mickey hands.

Steve and I wandered back upstairs to deck 12. The concierge lounge was full of people and free drinks were available as well as other finger foods. We took our glasses of wine and went out on our verandah to watch the boat move out of the port and into open water. We called the kids one last time while our cellphones still worked. All was well at home, so we sat back in our lounge chairs and enjoyed feeling the ship go into the ocean. The water was unbelievably pretty and those love bugs were now all gone!

We got unpacked (as mentioned earlier there were plenty of shelves and cupboards to put our things into). Steve logged into the Surf at Sea stuff to get his computer all connected. Turns out that if you are in concierge you pay the $40 for 100 minute fee, but you get it refunded back at the end of the cruise. The connections are really slow, so Steve used it rarely to check email. After we got settled, we went downstairs to see the 6:15 show called The Golden Mickeys. It was great! Loved it......

We got dressed for Palo and went upstairs. There is a nice bar between Palo and Remy so we went there and had a drink. Our reservation was for 7:40pm and the restaurant was still fairly empty when we got there. They seated us up on the second level and we were the only ones there except for a couple of tables of crew members. There must have been at least 10 tables that remained open the whole time we were there. We figured that since it was the first night of a three day cruise, maybe people wanted to eat in the family dining areas since if you went to Palo you would miss one of the restaurants on the three day cruise. Our service was "okay" kind of slow given the relatively uncrowded nature of the restaurant. Steve enjoyed his rack of lamb, but my fish (wrapped in parchment) was rather bland. We passed on the chocolate souffle (I planned on getting it the next night) and left deciding that while our meal was good, it wasn't over the top. Our Palo experience on the Magic last October was definitely better. We still had fun, though, and we planned on going back again the next night.

After we were done, we went back to our room to change into comfy clothes. Then we headed down to Evolution as I had convinced Steve that we needed to check out the adult lounges. "Pink" is pretty, "Skyline" is cool, and there are definitely adult bars and areas all over the place. In "Evolution", a show called "Match Your Mate" was just about to start. Steve made me promise not to volunteer us which was just fine with me! We did enjoy the show (three couples are picked) and a dynamic duo who had been married 47 years won the bottle of champagne.

We then headed over to the shops to check out the merchandise. Lots of inaugural voyage pins, shirts, to be had. The stores even had the large vinylmation mickeys that I had lugged onto the ship (though theirs were $42 instead of my $14.99 ones on sale!). I bought a few things for the girls and we called it a night. Tomorrow would be Nassau Day!

More later.... Gotta get the twins on the school bus soon.

Another great update! Can't wait for more. Thanks.

 

[acomasdiaz]

Exciting news here in our house....DD (15) spent all last week trying out to make the high school dance team. For fall, they have a pre-game dance team and the varsity dance team for football. For winter, they have a competitive jazz team, a competitive kick team and the b-squad basketball team.

DD was chosen to be on the varsity dance team in the fall and gets to do both the competitive jazz team and the competitive kick team!!!!

We are so excited for her because dance is HUGE in our town and there were a lot of great dancers who tried out.

Congrats to your DD!

When will it end?!?!

It's supposed to be rainy here all week again...third week in a row.

Yep, DD is 15 and is just finishing 9th grade at the HS. DS is 11 and is finishing 5th grade. I don't feel like I am old enough to have these 2 big kids...but I must be!

I think there are a large number of us on this cruise that REALLY need a vacation. As quickly as I want our trip to come, I am just sad knowing that once it comes....it will end way too quickly.

Jen, I was thinking the same thing this weekend. All I have been talking about lately is the cruise and how I can't wait for it to get here. Then, it will be over though...

 

[Minniemouse07]

I was watching that also, DD's teacher encouraged them to watch it, After seeing the ASL idol made me realize I really want to learn ASL. The organization GRO came from Washington DC to judge it, it was so cool. I guess word got out from GRO and there were quite a few deaf people who came and they were clapping like they did on the show. I hope your daughter keeps up with it, my daughter didn't really start to like it until this year, so tell her to stick with it.
We were on a Disney cruise in 2008 and a young girl was at guest svcs trying to ask them something and they couldn't understand her so my daughter signed to her, and then told guest svcs what she wanted, and I can't tell you how I felt that my DD could help someone.

My sister is fluent in ASL. She took non-credit classes at Galludet when she was living in Washington, DC and when she was working for Carnival (she was an IT officer) they often called on her when they needed to communicate complicated conversations with hearing impaired guests. Sis is graduating from nursing school in a few weeks so I'm guessing that her ASL fluency will come in handy there too!

ASL fluency is an amazing skill to have. Kudos to your dd for choosing ASL over one of the other languages!

 

[eyes4mickey]

Hey everyone,

To continue where I left off with our recent 3-Day Dream cruise:

While people were still coming onto the ship, Steve and I walked around checking everything out. We peeked into the dining rooms, knowing that we weren't going to try them out this time, but wait until we were with the twins in August. All of the dining rooms are beautiful! We also went up to the Vista Spa to check out the amenities. Before the cruise I had booked the Couples Villa, but changed my mind and decided to spend the money on a Serenity Bay Cabana. I decided that it would be more penny wise (ha!) to have a cabana for several hours than enjoy the spa stuff for less time. That said, the spa rooms look amazing, so you can't go wrong doing that either!

I wanted to hear about the shopping in Nassau (a place I've only been to once before about thirty years ago) so we went down to the Buena Vista Theatre to listen to Whitney (the Disney personal shopping guide) talk about the ins and outs of shopping in DCL places. I wanted to upgrade a piece of jewelry I had gotten in Grand Cayman on my last cruise, so it ended up that Whitney told me she'd meet us at the store the next day after our excursion to Atlantis ended. I know nothing about gemstones, so was glad to hear that she would help us.

The sailaway party was already in full swing when we went up to the upper decks. Cast members were handing out streamers, drinks were being passed around, kids were playing in the water, and the aquaduck had acquired quite a line by then! The ship blasted the horn with the famous sound "When you wish upon a star" (which brought a huge smile and a catch in my throat) and we were off! There were a couple of cast members on land who waved to us with their big mickey hands.

Steve and I wandered back upstairs to deck 12. The concierge lounge was full of people and free drinks were available as well as other finger foods. We took our glasses of wine and went out on our verandah to watch the boat move out of the port and into open water. We called the kids one last time while our cellphones still worked. All was well at home, so we sat back in our lounge chairs and enjoyed feeling the ship go into the ocean. The water was unbelievably pretty and those love bugs were now all gone!

We got unpacked (as mentioned earlier there were plenty of shelves and cupboards to put our things into). Steve logged into the Surf at Sea stuff to get his computer all connected. Turns out that if you are in concierge you pay the $40 for 100 minute fee, but you get it refunded back at the end of the cruise. The connections are really slow, so Steve used it rarely to check email. After we got settled, we went downstairs to see the 6:15 show called The Golden Mickeys. It was great! Loved it......

We got dressed for Palo and went upstairs. There is a nice bar between Palo and Remy so we went there and had a drink. Our reservation was for 7:40pm and the restaurant was still fairly empty when we got there. They seated us up on the second level and we were the only ones there except for a couple of tables of crew members. There must have been at least 10 tables that remained open the whole time we were there. We figured that since it was the first night of a three day cruise, maybe people wanted to eat in the family dining areas since if you went to Palo you would miss one of the restaurants on the three day cruise. Our service was "okay" kind of slow given the relatively uncrowded nature of the restaurant. Steve enjoyed his rack of lamb, but my fish (wrapped in parchment) was rather bland. We passed on the chocolate souffle (I planned on getting it the next night) and left deciding that while our meal was good, it wasn't over the top. Our Palo experience on the Magic last October was definitely better. We still had fun, though, and we planned on going back again the next night.

After we were done, we went back to our room to change into comfy clothes. Then we headed down to Evolution as I had convinced Steve that we needed to check out the adult lounges. "Pink" is pretty, "Skyline" is cool, and there are definitely adult bars and areas all over the place. In "Evolution", a show called "Match Your Mate" was just about to start. Steve made me promise not to volunteer us which was just fine with me! We did enjoy the show (three couples are picked) and a dynamic duo who had been married 47 years won the bottle of champagne.

We then headed over to the shops to check out the merchandise. Lots of inaugural voyage pins, shirts, to be had. The stores even had the large vinylmation mickeys that I had lugged onto the ship (though theirs were $42 instead of my $14.99 ones on sale!). I bought a few things for the girls and we called it a night. Tomorrow would be Nassau Day!

More later.... Gotta get the twins on the school bus soon.

e



Thanks for the update. Love it.

 

[Maryrn11168]

GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
BOYS AND GIRLS!
WE SET SAIL FOR OUR DREAMY TWO TIMES THE FUN IN THE CARIBBEAN SUN CRUISE IN 12 WEEKS! THAT IS ONLY 84 DAYS AWAY!

​

Hate Mondays, but I LOVE Tuesday morning updates!! 12 weeks

 

[Maryrn11168]

Beth, great trip report....waiting for more

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Hi everyone,
As promised here are some thoughts about the Dream cruise Steve and I just returnedfrom. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... Steve used it more than I did, but it was definitely great and we'd buy it again.

More later.....I promise!

BIG THANKYOU !! I LOVED reading your "report" !!!
NICE way to start my busy afternoon after 6 classes this morning ...

Did you "see" the beauty salon ? how is it ? I love to have my hair done ... while watching the waves !!!!

Waiting for more !!! laura

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Hey everyone,

To continue where I left off with our recent 3-Day Dream cruise:

While people were still coming onto the ship, Steve and I walked around checking everything out. We peeked into the dining rooms, knowing that we weren't going to try them out this time, but wait until we were with the twins in August. All of the dining rooms are beautiful! ...................................................................................................................................................................................................a dynamic duo who had been married 47 years won the bottle of champagne.

We then headed over to the shops to check out the merchandise. Lots of inaugural voyage pins, shirts, to be had. The stores even had the large vinylmation mickeys that I had lugged onto the ship (though theirs were $42 instead of my $14.99 ones on sale!). I bought a few things for the girls and we called it a night. Tomorrow would be Nassau Day!

More later.... Gotta get the twins on the school bus soon.

How was the sailaway party ?
Much more crowded than on the Magic / Wonder ?
WHERE would you suggest to watch it from ?

THANKYOU for taking the time to write again !!! laura

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
BOYS AND GIRLS!
WE SET SAIL FOR OUR DREAMY TWO TIMES THE FUN IN THE CARIBBEAN SUN CRUISE IN 12 WEEKS! THAT IS ONLY 84 DAYS AWAY!

​

I am so crazy busy these days that your post is such a beautiful "dreaming a bit" occasion !!!!!!!!!!
laura

 

[sdchickie]

Exciting news here in our house....DD (15) spent all last week trying out to make the high school dance team. For fall, they have a pre-game dance team and the varsity dance team for football. For winter, they have a competitive jazz team, a competitive kick team and the b-squad basketball team.

DD was chosen to be on the varsity dance team in the fall and gets to do both the competitive jazz team and the competitive kick team!!!!

We are so excited for her because dance is HUGE in our town and there were a lot of great dancers who tried out.

That's awesome! My daughter is trying to decide weather to try our for cheer or the pom squad (our schools version of dance) next year.

Jen...Congrats to your daughter!!! I know that proud feeling I'm feeling it for sure tonight. We are getting ready to leave now for my daughters dance at the school tonight, instead of gym you can take dance in our HS, she did dance instead of gym in 9th grade and at the end of 9th grade tried out for dance company and made the tryouts and tonight is the schools dance company performance. It's been a busy end of year week here for us,
Monday she was in ASL idol, she takes ASL as her language, I can cry when I see her sign so quickly, makes me so proud that she can communicate with someone who can't hear.

So cool that your school offers dance instead of PE, I think more kids would be physically active if they could do the kind of PE that they want to do instead of having to do a bunch of stuff they don't want to do. My daughter has been teaching herself sign language by looking up song lyrics on the internet, she says that she might decide to take sign language as her language elective too.

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Exciting news here in our house....DD (15) spent all last week trying out to make the high school dance team. For fall, they have a pre-game dance team and the varsity dance team for football. For winter, they have a competitive jazz team, a competitive kick team and the b-squad basketball team.

DD was chosen to be on the varsity dance team in the fall and gets to do both the competitive jazz team and the competitive kick team!!!!

We are so excited for her because dance is HUGE in our town and there were a lot of great dancers who tried out.

WOW !!!!!!!!! That is terrific !!!
I know Emily will be so happy
and busy too !!!!!

To us it's amazing how much time your school spends for sport , dance and such Here my poor students ONLY have two hours for sport activities in a week - and now at the end of school year they get ONLY 1 HOUR of basket and the other hour is dedicated to THEORY !!!!!! Poor kids !!!

Sometimes I teach my lessons in the nearby park - at least they can get out of classroom and breath some fresh air !!!
Well ... today it wasn't FRESH air :
temp. was about 85/90° F !!!!

 

[MrsJobba1]

GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
BOYS AND GIRLS!
WE SET SAIL FOR OUR DREAMY TWO TIMES THE FUN IN THE CARIBBEAN SUN CRUISE IN 12 WEEKS! THAT IS ONLY 84 DAYS AWAY!

​

Wow thank you for the countdown -it brightens up my week!

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hey everyone,

To continue where I left off with our recent 3-Day Dream cruise:

While people were still coming onto the ship, Steve and I walked around checking everything out. We peeked into the dining rooms, knowing that we weren't going to try them out this time, but wait until we were with the twins in August. All of the dining rooms are beautiful! We also went up to the Vista Spa to check out the amenities. Before the cruise I had booked the Couples Villa, but changed my mind and decided to spend the money on a Serenity Bay Cabana. I decided that it would be more penny wise (ha!) to have a cabana for several hours than enjoy the spa stuff for less time. That said, the spa rooms look amazing, so you can't go wrong doing that either!

I wanted to hear about the shopping in Nassau (a place I've only been to once before about thirty years ago) so we went down to the Buena Vista Theatre to listen to Whitney (the Disney personal shopping guide) talk about the ins and outs of shopping in DCL places. I wanted to upgrade a piece of jewelry I had gotten in Grand Cayman on my last cruise, so it ended up that Whitney told me she'd meet us at the store the next day after our excursion to Atlantis ended. I know nothing about gemstones, so was glad to hear that she would help us.

The sailaway party was already in full swing when we went up to the upper decks. Cast members were handing out streamers, drinks were being passed around, kids were playing in the water, and the aquaduck had acquired quite a line by then! The ship blasted the horn with the famous sound "When you wish upon a star" (which brought a huge smile and a catch in my throat) and we were off! There were a couple of cast members on land who waved to us with their big mickey hands.

Steve and I wandered back upstairs to deck 12. The concierge lounge was full of people and free drinks were available as well as other finger foods. We took our glasses of wine and went out on our verandah to watch the boat move out of the port and into open water. We called the kids one last time while our cellphones still worked. All was well at home, so we sat back in our lounge chairs and enjoyed feeling the ship go into the ocean. The water was unbelievably pretty and those love bugs were now all gone!

We got unpacked (as mentioned earlier there were plenty of shelves and cupboards to put our things into). Steve logged into the Surf at Sea stuff to get his computer all connected. Turns out that if you are in concierge you pay the $40 for 100 minute fee, but you get it refunded back at the end of the cruise. The connections are really slow, so Steve used it rarely to check email. After we got settled, we went downstairs to see the 6:15 show called The Golden Mickeys. It was great! Loved it......

We got dressed for Palo and went upstairs. There is a nice bar between Palo and Remy so we went there and had a drink. Our reservation was for 7:40pm and the restaurant was still fairly empty when we got there. They seated us up on the second level and we were the only ones there except for a couple of tables of crew members. There must have been at least 10 tables that remained open the whole time we were there. We figured that since it was the first night of a three day cruise, maybe people wanted to eat in the family dining areas since if you went to Palo you would miss one of the restaurants on the three day cruise. Our service was "okay" kind of slow given the relatively uncrowded nature of the restaurant. Steve enjoyed his rack of lamb, but my fish (wrapped in parchment) was rather bland. We passed on the chocolate souffle (I planned on getting it the next night) and left deciding that while our meal was good, it wasn't over the top. Our Palo experience on the Magic last October was definitely better. We still had fun, though, and we planned on going back again the next night.

After we were done, we went back to our room to change into comfy clothes. Then we headed down to Evolution as I had convinced Steve that we needed to check out the adult lounges. "Pink" is pretty, "Skyline" is cool, and there are definitely adult bars and areas all over the place. In "Evolution", a show called "Match Your Mate" was just about to start. Steve made me promise not to volunteer us which was just fine with me! We did enjoy the show (three couples are picked) and a dynamic duo who had been married 47 years won the bottle of champagne.

We then headed over to the shops to check out the merchandise. Lots of inaugural voyage pins, shirts, to be had. The stores even had the large vinylmation mickeys that I had lugged onto the ship (though theirs were $42 instead of my $14.99 ones on sale!). I bought a few things for the girls and we called it a night. Tomorrow would be Nassau Day!

More later.... Gotta get the twins on the school bus soon.

Hope you made the school bus ok - thank you for your report.

I've a quick question- did they have the fillet mingion (sp?) in Palo like on the Magic? Hope so as dh loved that

On the sail - away did I read it correctly that they were passing drinks around
or was that just at the concierge deck - I've never known Disney to give away drink except on the castaway club reception

 

[MrsJobba1]

Jen - tell your daughter congratualtions from me

Now I really must get some work done