August 16, 2011, Disney Dream - Part 4

[Mjasp]

Glad to know who the ornament was from. It will definitely find a permanent home on our Christmas tree.

The bell ornament is also very cute What creativity!

I am typing and eating some Tropical Mike & Ikes, wonder where they came from?

 

[hmansure]

The girls fell asleep in their own little beds as soon as they hit their pillows. Steve is hard at work in our library editing the pictures, and I'm knee deep in laundry!

We had so much fun seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I'm disappointed that time flew by so fast and I didn't get to meet everyone. Harry, the girls were on the lookout for Keira and they think they might have played alongside her in the Club. Cathleen, I'm sorry our paths didn't cross on the ship but hope to meet you on another cruise!

Many thanks for all of the FE gifts that landed on our doorstep. My twins loved racing to the door to see if anything was in their pockets. I was amazed by all of the creativity and generosity.

Though we are all back, let's keep in touch. I hope to see many of you again on future cruises.....

Beth

Keira mentioned that as well - that's too funny!

 

[TiggerAllie]

Looking at all of the Irene coverage, it looks like CC might be in trouble... depends on how far east the storm drifts. Made me glad that we took so many pictures and were able to enjoy the cabana, as we may be the second-to-last cruise to see the island before Irene causes any damage.

 

[kritter]

We were at the parks all day and didn't get your message until after we returned after 1AM. I sent you a text in response. Keira is bummed she didn't get to meet up with them. We saw you guys 2x, but one was when we were in line for the Aquaduck and you guys were gone when we got off. We also saw you at the Golden Mickeys, but couldn't find you in the crowd afterwards. Loved the girls interview on the "red carpet" .

At SSR we stayed pretty much exclusively at the Paddock pool, too.[/QUOTE

We still havere yet to make it over there..How was it??

Yes, we were sad too leaving Wilderness Lodge today too. As per usual, the only way to get over leaving DCL/WDW is to plan the next trip.

We have a lot of plans "cooking" already. In addition to the 7 day eastern on the Fantasy next August Missy is very interested in the 6/15/12 2 day cruise to nowhere.

We also talked about going to WDW over Spring Break. Actually entertained the idea of taking the Auto Train, but this time may be (if it works for you guys) coming down a day early and visiting the girls.

The ideas are really flowing and it would be unheard of (for us) to go on two cruises and WDW all in one year, but I am hopeful.

A few of us have the 2-day booked for 6-15..Hope you and Missy can join us. Anyone, else interesed is welcomed to come along as well!!

We had below average service and very "odd" tablemates. The server himself was very polite and efficient - not much of a personality, but I think he was new and he was struggling with the language believe it or not. He was being dragged down by a very inefficient asst. server. He took FOREVER on drink orders and most everything else. Very slow service. Funny thing - DW ordered a lime with her drink. It came out with a lemon. He then proceeded to have a "mini argument" with her about the "yellow one is the lime and the green one is the lemon"?!?!? Anyway, after a conversation with the head server, things improved, but the service overall fell short of our expectations.

Making things worse for our dining team were the tablemates, who not once could manage to arrive on time for dinner. 15 mins, 20 mins, and even 30 mins late one night. That really through the servers timing off.

I don't want to blast them here on a public board so I'll spare the "odd" details. Suffice it to say, we should have gone with our gut and asked to be reassigned after the first night. One thing I will say though was the "dress code". I know it's debated heavily here on the DIS, but we were really surprised to see how dressed down a lot of people were. At the Royal Palace - lots of shorts and t-shirts (adults and kids) for example?! Our tablemates wore t-shirts and shorts each night - and we're not talking about nice t-shirts, either!

Our dining experience was AWFUL!! The whole way that our table was arranged was so not correct and my girls were not happy that it could not be arranged for us to sit with my parents. Our servers were not that great eitheer!!

The girls fell asleep in their own little beds as soon as they hit their pillows. Steve is hard at work in our library editing the pictures, and I'm knee deep in laundry!

We had so much fun seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I'm disappointed that time flew by so fast and I didn't get to meet everyone. Harry, the girls were on the lookout for Keira and they think they might have played alongside her in the Club. Cathleen, I'm sorry our paths didn't cross on the ship but hope to meet you on another cruise!

Many thanks for all of the FE gifts that landed on our doorstep. My twins loved racing to the door to see if anything was in their pockets. I was amazed by all of the creativity and generosity.

Though we are all back, let's keep in touch. I hope to see many of you again on future cruises.....

Beth

Hi Beth,

We had a GREAT time getting to know you all!! Hoping, that we will see you soon!!

 

[momto3inmn]

Has anyone heard any news on the person with the medical emergency? I would love to hear that things turned out fine. I could be wrong, but I believe the family of this person was from these boards. I think they had our green lanyards on.

Hi,

I just wanted to say hello. We were the family that were evacuated from the Dream. My DD who is 10 has spina bifida and hydrocephalus (spinal fluid in her brain). She has a shunt (valve) in her brain that drains the fluid. She began to have seizures. She was taken to the medical center where the decision was made to get her and me off the ship (my DH, and 2 other DD stayed on board). We were loaded onto a tug that took us to Freeport Hospital. One of the ship's doctors stayed with me. We were at the hospital for 6 hours before we got airlifted to the hospital in Miami. While there, my DD had x-rays and a CT scan and found out that her shunt had moved and no longer was doing it's job (spinal fluid was collecting in her brain and causing too much pressure). She had to have a tube put into her scalp to remove the built up spinal fluid, and then had a 2 hour surgery the next day to fix the shunt. The scariest thing was when they told me that on a "coma scale" they have of 1-10, my DD was at an 8!

On Sunday, my DH and DDs got off the ship, rented a van and drove from Orlando to Miami to be with us. Thankfully, my DD was well enough that we could drive back to Orlando, where a wonderful man named Patrick (who works for Disney Cruise Line) got us 2 rooms at the Pop Century Hotel for a couple of nights before our flight back to MN. Patrick was wonderful, he called us everyday to check on us, and even stopped by the hotel to say hello, check in, and give each one of the girls a Mickey Mouse. The crew of the Dream was also wonderful, they allowed my husband to use the ship's phone whenever he needed to, to make calls to our insurance company, and to me at the hospital.

We are finally home now. My DD will be seeing her neurosergeon tommarow. She is feeling alot better. She is really bummed we missed out on the cruise (we were only there 2 days), but I told her that she is ALOT more important than a cruise! We told her that we'd save up to plan another trip sometime.

Anyway, I just thought I would post, thankyou so much for the prayers!

Deborah

 

[gfolchick]

Hubby says hi right back. Great meeting you, too.




If anyone went to the comedy show the first night, (the 2nd one after 1st dining), that was my son that got carried up on stage (Ryan). We were able to video it. Fun!

I got on the scale yesterday. It wasn't bad!!

Ryan was hysterical!!! We were floating around Castaway and Wilde and James were next to us so we struck up a conversation with them. My first question was, was Ryan a plant. He was so good!! I loved how he counted his money and they shorted him and he stuck his hand out. So glad you got it all on video-PRICELESS!

Returned to WW yesterday and only officially gained .6 so that's pretty good for a 2 week vacation. I made a comment today to our friends who were with us that I should have made an ice cream sandwich with those huge chocolate chip cookies and the vanilla ice cream at Castaway. They were mad that I didn't say it out loud while we were there. But it's things like that which got me to WW in the first place

Would love an update for the medical evacuation. Hope everything is ok for them. It looked like a woman on the stretcher from our vantage point on Deck 12 traveling with an older woman. All I kept thinking when I heard the announcement for the stretcher team was please don't let it be my parents room (which was on the 6th floor).

Just finished watching the news and Irene is headed directly for us in CT this weekend.

Went to the beach today a few towns over. Definately not Castaway Cay. The beach was more like crushed gravel than sand, it was windy (did watch some kite surfers which were amazing) and the water was not the pretty blue-green of the Bahamas. Plus I was in sweats with a towel wrapped around me. I was feeling very much like a spoiled child missing her pretty beach.

I had asked for a dummy date for a 7 day cruise and was given a 3 day in November 2012. Good news is the deposit was $93 per room. Not sure if I should push for a hold on a 7 day for the extra $100 stateroom credit (but it will also mean a bigger deposit). I have a request into Carol for the June 22nd sailing from NYC. Carol must have been reading my mind because she just got back to me.

 

[gfolchick]

Hi,

I just wanted to say hello. We were the family that were evacuated from the Dream. My DD who is 10 has spina bifida and hydrocephalus (spinal fluid in her brain). She has a shunt (valve) in her brain that drains the fluid. She began to have seizures. She was taken to the medical center where the decision was made to get her and me off the ship (my DH, and 2 other DD stayed on board). We were loaded onto a tug that took us to Freeport Hospital. One of the ship's doctors stayed with me. We were at the hospital for 6 hours before we got airlifted to the hospital in Miami. While there, my DD had x-rays and a CT scan and found out that her shunt had moved and no longer was doing it's job (spinal fluid was collecting in her brain and causing too much pressure). She had to have a tube put into her scalp to remove the built up spinal fluid, and then had a 2 hour surgery the next day to fix the shunt. The scariest thing was when they told me that on a "coma scale" they have of 1-10, my DD was at an 8!

On Sunday, my DH and DDs got off the ship, rented a van and drove from Orlando to Miami to be with us. Thankfully, my DD was well enough that we could drive back to Orlando, where a wonderful man named Patrick (who works for Disney Cruise Line) got us 2 rooms at the Pop Century Hotel for a couple of nights before our flight back to MN. Patrick was wonderful, he called us everyday to check on us, and even stopped by the hotel to say hello, check in, and give each one of the girls a Mickey Mouse. The crew of the Dream was also wonderful, they allowed my husband to use the ship's phone whenever he needed to, to make calls to our insurance company, and to me at the hospital.

We are finally home now. My DD will be seeing her neurosergeon tommarow. She is feeling alot better. She is really bummed we missed out on the cruise (we were only there 2 days), but I told her that she is ALOT more important than a cruise! We told her that we'd save up to plan another trip sometime.

Anyway, I just thought I would post, thankyou so much for the prayers!

Deborah

Thank you so much for the update. We were all up on deck praying for her to be ok Hope she's feeling better and that you'll get her back on the ship one day!

 

[uncw89]

Yes, we were sad too leaving Wilderness Lodge today too. As per usual, the only way to get over leaving DCL/WDW is to plan the next trip.

I TOTALLY AGREE!!! DH says I'm only happy when I'm planning the next vacation!!!!

We have a lot of plans "cooking" already. In addition to the 7 day eastern on the Fantasy next August Missy is very interested in the 6/15/12 2 day cruise to nowhere.

We also talked about going to WDW over Spring Break. Actually entertained the idea of taking the Auto Train, but this time may be (if it works for you guys) coming down a day early and visiting the girls.

The ideas are really flowing and it would be unheard of (for us) to go on two cruises and WDW all in one year, but I am hopeful.

We are going to Disney for NYE and I hope we can go for Spring Break too. It's always good to have vacations to look forward too!
Thanks for arranging the group photo! I bought the one where we weren't waving! I hope someone labels and posts everyone's names. There are a lot of people I can't identify in the pic.
Thanks also for letting us see the "Roy!!!"

Hi,

I just wanted to say hello. We were the family that were evacuated from the Dream. My DD who is 10 has spina bifida and hydrocephalus (spinal fluid in her brain). She has a shunt (valve) in her brain that drains the fluid. She began to have seizures. She was taken to the medical center where the decision was made to get her and me off the ship (my DH, and 2 other DD stayed on board). We were loaded onto a tug that took us to Freeport Hospital. One of the ship's doctors stayed with me. We were at the hospital for 6 hours before we got airlifted to the hospital in Miami. While there, my DD had x-rays and a CT scan and found out that her shunt had moved and no longer was doing it's job (spinal fluid was collecting in her brain and causing too much pressure). She had to have a tube put into her scalp to remove the built up spinal fluid, and then had a 2 hour surgery the next day to fix the shunt. The scariest thing was when they told me that on a "coma scale" they have of 1-10, my DD was at an 8!

On Sunday, my DH and DDs got off the ship, rented a van and drove from Orlando to Miami to be with us. Thankfully, my DD was well enough that we could drive back to Orlando, where a wonderful man named Patrick (who works for Disney Cruise Line) got us 2 rooms at the Pop Century Hotel for a couple of nights before our flight back to MN. Patrick was wonderful, he called us everyday to check on us, and even stopped by the hotel to say hello, check in, and give each one of the girls a Mickey Mouse. The crew of the Dream was also wonderful, they allowed my husband to use the ship's phone whenever he needed to, to make calls to our insurance company, and to me at the hospital.

We are finally home now. My DD will be seeing her neurosergeon tommarow. She is feeling alot better. She is really bummed we missed out on the cruise (we were only there 2 days), but I told her that she is ALOT more important than a cruise! We told her that we'd save up to plan another trip sometime.

Anyway, I just thought I would post, thankyou so much for the prayers!

Deborah

Thanks for posting. I'm glad your DD is better. I hope her appt. goes well tomorrow!

 

[Maryrn11168]

Hi,

I just wanted to say hello. We were the family that were evacuated from the Dream. My DD who is 10 has spina bifida and hydrocephalus (spinal fluid in her brain). She has a shunt (valve) in her brain that drains the fluid. She began to have seizures. She was taken to the medical center where the decision was made to get her and me off the ship (my DH, and 2 other DD stayed on board). We were loaded onto a tug that took us to Freeport Hospital. One of the ship's doctors stayed with me. We were at the hospital for 6 hours before we got airlifted to the hospital in Miami. While there, my DD had x-rays and a CT scan and found out that her shunt had moved and no longer was doing it's job (spinal fluid was collecting in her brain and causing too much pressure). She had to have a tube put into her scalp to remove the built up spinal fluid, and then had a 2 hour surgery the next day to fix the shunt. The scariest thing was when they told me that on a "coma scale" they have of 1-10, my DD was at an 8!

On Sunday, my DH and DDs got off the ship, rented a van and drove from Orlando to Miami to be with us. Thankfully, my DD was well enough that we could drive back to Orlando, where a wonderful man named Patrick (who works for Disney Cruise Line) got us 2 rooms at the Pop Century Hotel for a couple of nights before our flight back to MN. Patrick was wonderful, he called us everyday to check on us, and even stopped by the hotel to say hello, check in, and give each one of the girls a Mickey Mouse. The crew of the Dream was also wonderful, they allowed my husband to use the ship's phone whenever he needed to, to make calls to our insurance company, and to me at the hospital.

We are finally home now. My DD will be seeing her neurosergeon tommarow. She is feeling alot better. She is really bummed we missed out on the cruise (we were only there 2 days), but I told her that she is ALOT more important than a cruise! We told her that we'd save up to plan another trip sometime.

Anyway, I just thought I would post, thankyou so much for the prayers!

Deborah

Deborah, So glad that your daughter is doing better. I hope that you will one day get her back on the ship. Just a suggestion, have you considered contacting the Make A Wish Foundation. There was a boy on our cruise that was on a wish trip. My son also had his Wish granted and it was great. PM me if you want any information about it.

Mary

 

[uncw89]

Thanks everyone for the FE gifts! They were great!!

Glad we aren't in Nassau now!!!
It's looking like Irene isn't going to hit my area (Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach). We will still feel the effects of it but it looks like the Outer Banks and you all up North might get it worse than me.
There is a joke around here that if Jim Cantore (from the weather channel ) comes we know we are in trouble! He tends to come to town when there are storms out there. The commercial with him on the beach and everyone packing up and leaving the beach was filmed here!!! LOL!! There was a guy from the Weather Channel here today though.
Stay safe everyone!!

 

[Mjasp]

Deborah...Thank you for posting that your DD is doing well, we like so many others were praying for your family and so glad it had a good outcome.

Pixiedust and prayers that she continues on the road to recovery.

 

[acomasdiaz]

Deborah,

I am so glad to hear that your DD is doing better. We were so sad to hear someone had to leave the cruise. Thank you for letting us know how she is doing. Please give her many hugs from us.

 

[acomasdiaz]

The bell ornament is also very cute What creativity!

I am typing and eating some Tropical Mike & Ikes, wonder where they came from?

Yummy!

 

[TiggerAllie]

Welcome to vacation-withdrawal for all of you now returning!

Deborah-- I'm glad to hear that everything was alright with your daughter. I'm sure you'll both be back on the Dream again!

Dining service: We also had spotty dining service. We had a table of 6 for our whole group, but the servers just weren't very good--inattentive and got a number of orders wrong. I spoke to guest services about it, and there was some improvement after that. Thankfully we ate at Palo for brunch and dinner and had PHENOMENAL service there. The remainder of my family had never been on a cruise (Disney or otherwise), but I wanted to make sure they understood that excellent service is part of the premium you pay for with Disney. I was surprised to see so many comments about so-so service in the dining rooms. I'm guessing that maybe the dining staff is still getting things in order from the giant influx of new staff when the Dream came on line.

 

[sdchickie]

Deborah, I too am glad to hear that your daughter is doing better. It's always nice to hear good outcomes from a bad situation.

As far as servers go we had a pretty good group, the head server that we had Nondu was the best head server I've ever had. She was the first one that I've ever not thought "why am I tipping this person?" usually you only see the head servers the first night and then the last when you know they are only comming by so you remember them. Nondu was fantastic, she came by and talked to us every night, remembered our table when we were checking in with out us even telling her the number, ordered up cheese sticks for Jake every night, and when we told her that we like a faster dinner she made sure the team got us in and out of there the rest of the cruise. Our assistant server Chris was fantastic too, he chatted with us nightly, knew our drinks after the first night and made sure we always had a drink. The main server was good, but not as good as we have had in the past, but my husband (who has never sailed Disney) was very impressed with all the servers.

I hope we can keep chatting as well, I would love to go on another cruise with ya'll. I enjoyed meeting everyone that I got to talk to.

 

[elgerber]

Deborah, thank you so much for the update, I am soooooooooooo glad your dd is feeling better now. We were very concerned after seeing the evacuation.

Dining, our servers were ok, not horrible, not great. They were very nice. Biggest problem was drinks not being refilled I think. But in conversation we found out our assistant server had only been there 3 months, and they are just not getting the training they need to up to par with Disney service. It has to be hard on them because I think they are trying, but they aren't getting what they need to learn, and then they are getting complained about.

I was watching footage live from Nassau this morning, and it's hard to believe we were there less than 1 week ago!

 

[TiggerAllie]

Anyone else have a hard time getting out of "cruise-mode" to start planning a trip to the parks? We're headed for a long weekend trip to Food & Wine, and all I do when I get on the boards is read the cruise page! Must... go... find... ADRs...

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Hi,

I just wanted to say hello. We were the family that were evacuated from the Dream. My DD who is 10 has spina bifida and hydrocephalus (spinal fluid in her brain). She has a shunt (valve) in her brain that drains the fluid. She began to have seizures. She was taken to the medical center where the decision was made to get her and me off the ship (my DH, and 2 other DD stayed on board). We were loaded onto a tug that took us to Freeport Hospital. One of the ship's doctors stayed with me. We were at the hospital for 6 hours before we got airlifted to the hospital in Miami. While there, my DD had x-rays and a CT scan and found out that her shunt had moved and no longer was doing it's job (spinal fluid was collecting in her brain and causing too much pressure). She had to have a tube put into her scalp to remove the built up spinal fluid, and then had a 2 hour surgery the next day to fix the shunt. The scariest thing was when they told me that on a "coma scale" they have of 1-10, my DD was at an 8!

On Sunday, my DH and DDs got off the ship, rented a van and drove from Orlando to Miami to be with us. Thankfully, my DD was well enough that we could drive back to Orlando, where a wonderful man named Patrick (who works for Disney Cruise Line) got us 2 rooms at the Pop Century Hotel for a couple of nights before our flight back to MN. Patrick was wonderful, he called us everyday to check on us, and even stopped by the hotel to say hello, check in, and give each one of the girls a Mickey Mouse. The crew of the Dream was also wonderful, they allowed my husband to use the ship's phone whenever he needed to, to make calls to our insurance company, and to me at the hospital.

We are finally home now. My DD will be seeing her neurosergeon tommarow. She is feeling alot better. She is really bummed we missed out on the cruise (we were only there 2 days), but I told her that she is ALOT more important than a cruise! We told her that we'd save up to plan another trip sometime.

Anyway, I just thought I would post, thankyou so much for the prayers!

Deborah

Deborah , I'm feeling quite emotional after reading about your DD !!
What a scaring time for you all !!
I had no idea that someone had to be evacuated ...
Glad that Disney managed to help you through it !!

Prayers and thoughts your way , may your DD be back to "normal" life soon .
Here's hoping that you all can soon enjoy another cruise and many magical moments all together !!

PD and thoughts , laura

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Hi all !!!
We are back home now - tired - but SO HAPPY about our USA vacation !!!


Meeting many of you was one of the HIGHLIGHTS of our cruise days !!

We have re-booked onboard for a dummy date ; in fact we won't be cruising again until 2013 / Fantasy !!!
SO HOPING that someone in this lovely group will be cruising in August 2013 !!!!

for all the thoughtful Fe gifts !!!
They are ... slowly ... coming out of our suitcases , bringing again so much fun and joy !!!
DGH and I will keep them as dear memories of a wonderful cruise !!!

Safe travels to those who still are at WDW !!
Happy "day-by-day" life to those who are home already !!

Keep on DREAMING new trips !!!!!
( DGH is already "googling" about our Hawaiian trip in August 2012 !!!).

CIAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! laura & DGH

 

[elgerber]

We have re-booked onboard for a dummy date ; in fact we won't be cruising again until 2013 / Fantasy !!!
SO HOPING that someone in this lovely group will be cruising in August 2013 !!!!


CIAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! laura & DGH

It was nice to meet you too Laura, August 2013 is a possiblity for us, but we haven't made any decisions yet.