Christmas Cruise on Dream

[Justacruiser]

I wanted to give a review of our recent Disney Dream cruise which occurred 22-26 December 2011.

I had asked the question, is the demand and 40% cost increase or the Christmas Day cruise because of the purks on board or just the fact that you are on board on Christmas? In my opion it is the later.

I arrived at the terminal on 22 December 2011 at about 1105 and recieved the boarding number 3. We my DW and DD were on board by 1140. The Atrium area was decarated with large garland and there were a couple of tree and the gingerbread house constructed by staff aboard the ship. I would compare the decorations to any large mall ready for the holidays.

There was a tree lighting at 7pm where the turned on the lights of the atruim area. Forgot to say, when we arrived on board I immediately went to guest services and signed up for the gingerbread house class. It is fun for all ages. It was one of the highlights of our family cruise.

Christmas music was played on the over head speakers trhoughout the cruise, and there were a couple of services for us religious folks. Also a special menu for Christmas Dinner. There was lobster, turkey, or ham amoung others. It is a special menu prepared only for Christmas day.

Santa showed up Christmas day only. And we had a joke for ADVERTISED staff carrollng. On Castaway Cay, 6 staff pulled up to Serenity Bay, ended a song they were signing and pulled away. Extremely disappointed!!! Castaway Cay had two large sand people (like snowman) statues to take pictures with and a large sleigh for pictures (which was pretty cool).

I noticed a whole lot of new cruisers and few silver and less gold members on board (we are gold). The entertainment was the normal shows and the premier of War Horse (good flick PG-13 for a reason). Tunnel Vision showed Christmas movies on Christmas Day.

Recommendation: I will not do a Disney Christmas Day Cruise again if the prices are as high as we paid. I would much rather go 1 December - 15 December when you get morre value for the buck. I made the mistake thinking that Disney would make our Christmas. I was wrong. Take some presents, keep as many normal traditions as possible and let the ship expand your Christmas. Go on with no preconseptions and expect nothing extra and you will not be disappointed.

CM's were so-so this cruise. All were nice but with the expantion of the Fantasy, there were a lot of new CM's with not much experience. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[gourt]

Justacruiser, we were on this same cruise. I agree 100% with your review. Not worth the extra expense and won't do it again. Had a great time though!

 

[Justacruiser]

truly unfortunate. They really could not it out of the park and they just failed miserably. Did have a great cruise and the weather was just awesome.

Would have liked the CM on Castaway Cay taking the pictures to have take pictures with the sleigh in the background.

Santa should have been available everynight for the kids. Also could have left a gift in the stateroom every night instead of all at once on Christmas Eve which in itself was a major let down.

I guess I just expected Disney to put an exclamation point to Christmas. I am sure they did more for Holloween!

 

[NAB]

We go on the Dream next Tuesday.

Could you tell me the other movies that were playing? I know they could change but we were trying to figure out what they may play in the theater.
Thanks.

We really wanted to go on the New Years one but the cost was way to much for us too so we decided on this one. I think it is going to seem short to me since we are used to 7 day and this is 5 days. But I will say I won't miss taking my dress clothes. No formal or semi formal on a 5 day.

 

[Dayub]

NAB, I am on your cruise also. Saw your comment on the Formal or semi-formal nights. So we are not having one and do not need to bring our dress clothes? I have only been on 7 or 10 days Disney cruises and just assumed that there would be one on the last day at Sea Day. Was this published somewhere?

 

[NAB]

NAB, I am on your cruise also. Saw your comment on the Formal or semi-formal nights. So we are not having one and do not need to bring our dress clothes? I have only been on 7 or 10 days Disney cruises and just assumed that there would be one on the last day at Sea Day. Was this published somewhere?

I read it in an email sent to us. It was under Online Planning Center at disneycruise.com/plan

Said the dress was casual , dress up optional if you want to on any day.

So I took that as no semi formal or formal days.

I will be wearing my capris most nights and maybe a sundress the guys will not be wearing suits and dress shoes etc. Less to pack.

Or I could have read in the documents that came, not sure. But I did read it and was happy. My sister did the 4 day last year and they did not have a formal night either.

 

[Justacruiser]

The movies I remember being on board were:

Winnie the Pooh
Reel Steal
Pirates of the Carribean 4
Cars 2
War Horse

As far as the dress goes, they usually have a night designated as a semi-formal night even on the shorter cruises. However, people as you know where whatever they want anyway. Enjoy your cruises!

 

[gourt]

To add to Justacruiser's list, they also played The Muppets and The Help.

 

[NAB]

Thanks for the list of movies.

The kids will like those. Hope to see at least one while on board but sometimes it is hard because we try to do everything.

 

[bmer1rick]

I wanted to give a review of our recent Disney Dream cruise which occurred 22-26 December 2011.

I had asked the question, is the demand and 40% cost increase or the Christmas Day cruise because of the purks on board or just the fact that you are on board on Christmas? In my opion it is the later.

I arrived at the terminal on 22 December 2011 at about 1105 and recieved the boarding number 3. We my DW and DD were on board by 1140. The Atrium area was decarated with large garland and there were a couple of tree and the gingerbread house constructed by staff aboard the ship. I would compare the decorations to any large mall ready for the holidays.

There was a tree lighting at 7pm where the turned on the lights of the atruim area. Forgot to say, when we arrived on board I immediately went to guest services and signed up for the gingerbread house class. It is fun for all ages. It was one of the highlights of our family cruise.

Christmas music was played on the over head speakers trhoughout the cruise, and there were a couple of services for us religious folks. Also a special menu for Christmas Dinner. There was lobster, turkey, or ham amoung others. It is a special menu prepared only for Christmas day.

Santa showed up Christmas day only. And we had a joke for ADVERTISED staff carrollng. On Castaway Cay, 6 staff pulled up to Serenity Bay, ended a song they were signing and pulled away. Extremely disappointed!!! Castaway Cay had two large sand people (like snowman) statues to take pictures with and a large sleigh for pictures (which was pretty cool).

I noticed a whole lot of new cruisers and few silver and less gold members on board (we are gold). The entertainment was the normal shows and the premier of War Horse (good flick PG-13 for a reason). Tunnel Vision showed Christmas movies on Christmas Day.

Recommendation: I will not do a Disney Christmas Day Cruise again if the prices are as high as we paid. I would much rather go 1 December - 15 December when you get morre value for the buck. I made the mistake thinking that Disney would make our Christmas. I was wrong. Take some presents, keep as many normal traditions as possible and let the ship expand your Christmas. Go on with no preconseptions and expect nothing extra and you will not be disappointed.

CM's were so-so this cruise. All were nice but with the expantion of the Fantasy, there were a lot of new CM's with not much experience. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I guess I will offer a little different view than Justacruiser. We are platinum members and have been on several specialty cruises. I am not sure about the 40% markup on the cruise that you mention, but we booked ours onboard a previous cruise in April and paid roughly the same price as you would on a regular cruise. I guess it is just dependant on when and how you book.

For us, the cruise was well worth it. Every day they had something special for us to do. As you mentioned the first day was the Christmas tree lighting and several opportunities for pictures. Unlike other cruises we have been on, they offered several times with the characters to take pictures in their Christmas sweaters, etc.

They changed the itinerary a little for the cruise, because the second day was Nassau and Pirate night. Since we were in Nassau for the entire day and it being Pirate night, this was the day with the least scheduled Christmas events, but I would expect that. As usual this was one of the Princess gatherings and several of the princesses were in Christmas dresses.

The third day was Christmas eve and our day at Castaway Cay. As mentioned the focus was Castaway Cay. I too was a little dissapointed that there weren't more photographers up by the Christmas tree and the sleigh. They instead were down with Captain Jack and by the the Mount Rushmore bouys. Maybe it was the time of day and they later repositioned themselves, but we did have to ask others to take our pictures. The dinner that night was very good and our head server warned us about our Christmas dinner and leaving a good appetite. When we returned to the room, Disney had a few special gifts for us to include a Don "Ducky" Williams print that is only available on this cruise. There was also a nice box of chocolates and our host made a nice snowman with a special little Santa hat with the DCL emblem.

Our final full day was at sea and chock full of special things to do. As mentioned they had Santa (and Santa Goofy) available for kids in the lobby. It was very well organized and went very quickly. They also had a very nice Christmas morning spread full of cookies, pastries, egg nog, hot chocolate and chocolates. They also had several Christmas services for those that wanted to attend. We also participated in the Gingerbread house making. If you do go on a Christmas Cruise, I highly encourage attending this.. it was very good. You have to make reservations for it, so don't forget. They also showed War Horse on Christmas, which was also the first day it came out on theaters. The dinner was amazing, it was almost like eating at Palos. The signature appetizer was Alaskan King Crab legs and the main course was Lobster Tail (which the waiter offered me a second). For desert they had a white chocolate souffle, which my wife totally enjoyed.

We really enjoyed the cruise, but do recommend you make your reservations early if the cost is a major concern for you. We already made ours for the 2012 Cruise on the Fantasy and paid pretty much the same rate as a regular 7 day cruise during the time kids are in school.