August 2, 2011 disney dream

[Dizzyworld]

Having some withdrawal but really busy so that helps. I will say the only negative was our wait staff. They were horrible and I am being nice. Not sure how they got on the dream. We had such great servers on the wonder. When I got home I thought maybe I was being a little harsh but then I talked to anther teacher that went 2 weeks prior and horrible is being nice. The stuff their server did for them as well as chef and head server make my servers look like first week mcdonalds staff. Their chef actually showed up at one of the other rest. To make sure they got their added steak fry app. And brought them a special desert. Mine were tripping over each other and after every meal she would make excuses like I have so many tables sorry it was slow......
Every meal someone gotntge wrong food and drinks there were several times I was spitting dust lol as it took so long to fill refills and we had to ask. Other than that great food awesome company and other than second cc day great weather I thought. Someone didnask me the other day which ship classic or new did in like better and in have to say classic. Dream is beautiful and has all the bells and whistles but at times felt like same activities with 2000 more
people.

Our servers from the first crew tried really hard but there seemed to be problems in communicating using English. They didn't seem like they were having fun at all. There were too many mixed up orders. The person who brings our drinks was only on her 2nd cruise. We decided to change servers for the second cruise to a server we met on the first day. He was lots of fun. At least both head servers were visible and terrific.

I wonder if you got the serving team we had from the first cruise? Hmmmmm.....

 

[scooter7487]

In between practices so thought I would pop on. Our servers were from the phillipians and turkey. Katie and caglar. I understand the language issues but on the wonder I really appreciated our servers from india and africa as on the first night they explained that english was not their first language and that they were not offended if we asked them to repeat as they might do that to us. They were awesome. Never a wrong entree or drink heck they never wrote anything down and got it correct. They would go through the" suggestions" then say ok now that that is out of the way here are my suggestions. On the day we went to cc I saw one of them and he ran up to me and said here is an ice cream cone enjoy. Oh well we still had a great time! Will go again but will probably do classic ship before dream or fantasy. Of course the way prices are may be only able to afford classic ships anyway.

 

[Deb in IA]

Hope mark feels better! Do you have an athlEtic trainer at the school? If yesnhe should be seeing them.

Thanks, Scott!

Mark's is feeling better, and back to running with the team. I think he just tweeked something in his knee. Hopefully, it won't bother him anymore.

Hello everyone!

Just a quick note to say that we got back to our home in NY last night. I have enjoyed reading the last weeks worth of posts, catching up on all of your comments and adventures. We did another full week in FL after the cruise, doing the parks and then down to Miami to visit with family and do some diving. I'll follow this up with individual replies and some photos later today.

Thanks again to you all for making this one of our most memorable and fun cruises yet!

Robert

Good to hear you got back safely. Robert, I was listening to your CD in the car on my commute to work, and re-living our wonderful cruise memories. Thanks so much! I agree; this was a fantastic cruise, and the FE and DIS meets played a big role!

As for our servers, we had Rajeev from Mauritius and our assistant server was Barbie from Ukraine. Rajeev was great, very positive, enthusiastic, friendly. He's been working for DCL since 2005! He stayed and talked to us for quite a while one night.

Barbie, bless her heart, tried hard, but she seemed really sad. I think she misses her 3 year old son, and it must be hard for her, seeing so many happy kids with their families all together.

 

[Rob_Misses_Fla]

Deb, I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the CD, I had fun putting it together!

We had lot's of fun while in Florida after the cruise, We did a marathon tour of the parks in the rain, the Tuesday after the cruise (Boy, I sure miss our FL res annual passes!) Then, down to Miami for a few days of fun and a family wedding. The visit to Stiltsville was great, despite the typical storms that come in this time of year! (And I won't even get into the mosquito issues!) Regular lobster season opened the weekend we got off the Dream, so the bugs were plentiful! I have put together a small site with pictures from both adventures if any of you are interested. Taylor Vacation.

We were on first dinner seating with an AERRA rotation. We had Depesh from South Africa as our server, and Solenne from France as our assistant. Both of them were amazing! Depesh has been with DCL 10 years, He was opening crew for the Dream, coming from the Magic. Solenne was three months into her first cruise contract ever, and she loves it. We were thankfuls to have such a wonderful staff. Our head server was Baraq from Turkey, but we never saw him till last night for gratuities.

Nancy, congratulations on your big win! Our after cruise plan of hitting powerball and calling in wealthy was foiled by a couple in Minnesota, so back to NY we came..

Jeanne, I hope you and Mike enjoyed your anniversary! It seemed like we were running the same circles, as we were always bumping into you!

JMTStone (Melissa), we missed you at both meets, but I did see your family in Nassau. I yelled your name, but to no avail.. Thank you for coordinating the FE, we had fun with it. Our drive home took us through Pittsburgh. Are all the roads under construction?

 

[JMTStone]

OK, so we booked the Magic 5 day Bahamas, Key West, and Castaway Cay trip on 5/18/12 while we were on ship.

Who's with me?

 

[Rob_Misses_Fla]

OK, so we booked the Magic 5 day Bahamas, Key West, and Castaway Cay trip on 5/18/12 while we were on ship.

Who's with me?

We are trying to decide on Wonder 7 day Mexican 2/19 or Magic 7 day Western 2/18. I'd LOVE to throw in Magic on 5/18/12, but school and work seem to get in the way!

 

[Deb in IA]

Darn! Mark will still be in school on 5/18, but I'd love to go!

 

[jham]

Loved your photos Rob! You must not sleep much to get all those shots with no people in them.

OK, so we booked the Magic 5 day Bahamas, Key West, and Castaway Cay trip on 5/18/12 while we were on ship.

Who's with me?

We booked a dummy date in November 2012 which we will be moving to August 2013 when it opens up. Not sure which cruise but hoping for the Fantasy for the week of the girls' birthdays (August 16 and 18).

 

[Rob_Misses_Fla]

Loved your photos Rob! You must not sleep much to get all those shots with no people in them.



We booked a dummy date in November 2012 which we will be moving to August 2013 when it opens up. Not sure which cruise but hoping for the Fantasy for the week of the girls' birthdays (August 16 and 18).

Thanks Jeanne! I have always enjoyed getting photos of the ship without lots of people in them, and it actually was not too hard.

We have looked at all the 2012 itineraries, and although we were seriously considering Alaska, we decided to stay tropical. We went with the Magic on a Western on 3/3/12. We have been to these ports before on Carnival, but the thought of not going to Castaway if we took the MR cruise was too much to stand. Besides Port Canaveral is familiar to us, and family is close down there so it makes sense.

Then during that cruise we will book something for the Fantasy. Maybe by then the premium prices they are getting for the new ships might settle down a bit.

Besides, if all works out, by that time we may actually be back living in FL again!

 

[Deb in IA]

Jeanne, we are thinking about August 2013 also, but probably earlier than 16 and 18.

Mark will be in college then (!), and they usually have orientation the week before classes begin.



Hey, anyone keeping tabs on Hurricane Irene? Sounds like she could cause some real damage on Castaway Cay by tomorrow.

Hope everyone stays safe, and tomorrow's Dream cruise is able to still get out!

 

[DVC4US]

Hi All!

Finally getting a chance to check-in. Things have been crazy since we got back.

I'll try to do a little catch up in this post but sorry if I miss anything.

Thanks for the birthday greetings. It was a great day(rained a lot during the day but still great). The night before everyone but my dad and Alyssa went to Jelly Rolls and I got called up on the stage for my birthday. Since we stayed out late I let Brittany sleep in but me, Alyssa, and my dad went into the MK on my birthday. When we got back to the room Brittany and everyone else had a cake and presents for me. We went into EPCOT that evening and had dinner at La Hacienda and watched Illuminations from the restaurant. It was a really good day!

Nancy - can't believe that was you who won the jackpot! We were there but since I didn't win I really wasn't paying attention to the winner. Awesome!

Deb - it was a bummer about the cabanas on the 2nd CC day but we did get a discount on them which was pretty nice.

We don't have any cruises booked for 2012 yet. We do have three place holders booked, just have to make plans. Alyssa will turn 16 in March and we are planning a trip to WDW in June with about 4 or 5 of her friends. We have a 3 bedroom villa booked at BWV's. We did this for Brittany's 16th and had a great time so that is our big vacation for next year. We will probably look to do another cruise in 2013.

We really had a great cruise and enjoyed meeting everyone!

 

[DVC4US]

Everyone on the east coast stay safe this weekend. Brittany and David are still at David's parents in Virginia Beach so I will be watching the weather all weekend.

 

[JMTStone]

JMTStone (Melissa), we missed you at both meets, but I did see your family in Nassau. I yelled your name, but to no avail.. Thank you for coordinating the FE, we had fun with it. Our drive home took us through Pittsburgh. Are all the roads under construction?

I am so sorry I missed you guys. We were "going with the flow" in Nassau and were overwhelmed by the street vendors.

The girls LOVED thier prizes (from everyone - but Mackenzie has a special affinity to Hershey's chocolate).

Pittsburgh has 4 seasons:
Almost Winter
Winter
Its STILL snowing
Construction

One year, Taylor had SNOW on Halloween. Wore a jacket under her Jasmine costume.

 

[Deb in IA]

Hi All!

Finally getting a chance to check-in. Things have been crazy since we got back.

I'll try to do a little catch up in this post but sorry if I miss anything.

Thanks for the birthday greetings. It was a great day(rained a lot during the day but still great). The night before everyone but my dad and Alyssa went to Jelly Rolls and I got called up on the stage for my birthday. Since we stayed out late I let Brittany sleep in but me, Alyssa, and my dad went into the MK on my birthday. When we got back to the room Brittany and everyone else had a cake and presents for me. We went into EPCOT that evening and had dinner at La Hacienda and watched Illuminations from the restaurant. It was a really good day!

Nancy - can't believe that was you who won the jackpot! We were there but since I didn't win I really wasn't paying attention to the winner. Awesome!

Deb - it was a bummer about the cabanas on the 2nd CC day but we did get a discount on them which was pretty nice.

We don't have any cruises booked for 2012 yet. We do have three place holders booked, just have to make plans. Alyssa will turn 16 in March and we are planning a trip to WDW in June with about 4 or 5 of her friends. We have a 3 bedroom villa booked at BWV's. We did this for Brittany's 16th and had a great time so that is our big vacation for next year. We will probably look to do another cruise in 2013.

We really had a great cruise and enjoyed meeting everyone!

GREAT to hear from you, Leilani! I was getting worried when we hadn't seen you here for so long! Glad to hear you were having fun!

We booked a placeholder on board as well. We are also thinking about 2013. Both Jennifer and Mark will graduate that year - Jen from college, and Mark from high school, so I'm sure we will do a cruise to celebrate. Although, now I am thinking about tacking on a short 3-day cruise, if they are still available, next June, maybe with a WDW trip. We'll see - have to coordinate with all the other things going on with our schedules!

I am so sorry I missed you guys. We were "going with the flow" in Nassau and were overwhelmed by the street vendors.

The girls LOVED thier prizes (from everyone - but Mackenzie has a special affinity to Hershey's chocolate).

Pittsburgh has 4 seasons:
Almost Winter
Winter
Its STILL snowing
Construction

One year, Taylor had SNOW on Halloween. Wore a jacket under her Jasmine costume.

Melissa, we saw all the flooding in Pittsburgh! Hope you are all OK!!

 

[scooter7487]

Earthquake, hurricane, school starts 3 disasters in one week! Lol. I am not excited about school starting. After I looked at my rosters even more depressed about school starting. Then our curriculum director just gave us all this stuff to add for assessment 4 days before school starts. I am wearing my grumpy shirt to school Monday for sure.

 

[Dizzyworld]

Earthquake, hurricane, school starts 3 disasters in one week! Lol. I am not excited about school starting. After I looked at my rosters even more depressed about school starting. Then our curriculum director just gave us all this stuff to add for assessment 4 days before school starts. I am wearing my grumpy shirt to school Monday for sure.

We feel your pain in our part of Maryland. The eathquake, my first, freaked me out. I hope we are prepared for Irene. And my DD is hoping that school doesn't start on Monday. Since she started playing HS soccer, I feel like school has started since we are back on a schedule. I miss the cruise so much. Good luck to you and you new school year.

 

[scooter7487]

I am concerned that DCL is starting to price my family out of being able to go. Looked at cruise for dec 2012 and coachycp got an offer from another line 2000 bucks cheaper. We have only done dcl (2) and don't have anything to compare it to. I know I know it is disney and we have had great times on our two cruises but starting to wonder if worth the price. Of course my dinner at PALO makes me never to go anywhere else but dcl. In addition to price if dcl does not get their act together with their servers they are gonna start to get hammered. Has anyone split cruise with dvc points. Not sure how to do that but have not looked into it either. Speaking of dvc looks like Aulani is a mess financially. 3 people lost their jobs including dvc president. I met him, nice guy but he evidently underestimated dues big time!

We are getting rain but from track of storm that is probably all we are getting. Wishing those east of us the best as I have been watching the beach cams and it is starting to get bad. Sound like nj and ny are gonna get hammered. Stay safe my friends. I am a little upset because our channels are in full hurricane mode vs LL world series.

A school delay would be nice on first day. Don't want to use any snow days yet lol.

 

[scooter7487]

 

[scooter7487]

At BCV (notice matching shirts)

Before Boarding

Blue Lagoon trip

 

[Dizzyworld]

I am concerned that DCL is starting to price my family out of being able to go. Looked at cruise for dec 2012 and coachycp got an offer from another line 2000 bucks cheaper. We have only done dcl (2) and don't have anything to compare it to. I know I know it is disney and we have had great times on our two cruises but starting to wonder if worth the price. Of course my dinner at PALO makes me never to go anywhere else but dcl. In addition to price if dcl does not get their act together with their servers they are gonna start to get hammered. Has anyone split cruise with dvc points. Not sure how to do that but have not looked into it either. Speaking of dvc looks like Aulani is a mess financially. 3 people lost their jobs including dvc president. I met him, nice guy but he evidently underestimated dues big time!

We are getting rain but from track of storm that is probably all we are getting. Wishing those east of us the best as I have been watching the beach cams and it is starting to get bad. Sound like nj and ny are gonna get hammered. Stay safe my friends. I am a little upset because our channels are in full hurricane mode vs LL world series.

A school delay would be nice on first day. Don't want to use any snow days yet lol.

My DD is off tomorrow. Lots of trees down and power out in our area. We were lucky and only lost power for 2 hours. Who knows when school will start?

I agree that DCL is getting pricy. My friends wanted to go with us in 2012 but when she looked at what was left, the lowest price for a family of 4 was $11,500. And it is just a basic cabin with a verandah. I hope you and your merry band can find a way to cruise next year if you want to.

At BCV (notice matching shirts)

Love all of your pictures, especially the one with the matching shirts and ears.