mrsgthatsme
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2011
- Messages
- 374
I know that I benefitted immensely from all of the trip reports and advice offered on this board, so I felt I should post a short report from our 4 day on the Dream last week in hopes that it will help another planner with the process! 
First off, I just want to start by saying that our cruise was absolutely incredible. I had been a little concerned reading some of the posts about declining customer service, etc... but that just was not at all our experience. Literally EVERY employee we came into contact with was amazing. Full of the Disney magic you hope for on a Disney cruise. We did one day at EPCOT prior to the sailing, and while there were some great CMs there, there was absolutely no comparison at all between the DCL CMs and the CMs there. In addition to the customer service, I will comment on a few specific areas I knew I was curious about during my planning process.
Food: We really enjoyed it. So many great options for the kids, and they were always willing to customize as needed. Per my request, they brought my kids a big bowl of watermelon nightly due to the fact that my son isn't a fan of the other fruits in their standard fruit bowl. The last night our server offered to bring us anything from any menu in any dining room without our even asking for this! Some of our dinners were better than others, but all were at least good. Some of our favorites:
*Creme brûlée (simply amazing!)
*Chicken tenders on pool deck
*Beef entree in Royal Palace
*My daughter loved the chicken noodle soup from room service. It's made with long spaghetti noodles, but she said it was really tasty!
*The whole meal at Castaway Cay. The fresh fruit stand is excellent and we all enjoyed our grilled meal there too!
*Pasta at embarkation lunch in the MDR
*Caesar salad at embarkation lunch in MDR. It was different than the one we later got from room service and much better, in my opinion!
*Blueberry muffins on the pastry tray in the MDR for breakfast!
We really stayed pretty far away from Cabanas. I am not a huge buffet fan in general and we liked the more relaxing, quieter, less chaotic experience in the MDRs. We did breakfast in the MDR 2 mornings and it really moved at a pretty decent pace. Our kids didn't mind, especially since the pastry tray was available while they were waiting! We did lunch on embarkation day in the MDR, which was such a quiet, relaxing way to start our cruise! One day we did room service for lunch (just okay), and one day we ate on the pool deck, which was actually really good! The fresh fruit and salads up there are so nice, too!
Shows: SO GOOD! The only disappointment was that due to the Avengers premier, they showed that in the theatre in place of a stage show one night. Our kids are too young for that, so we just skipped it. They also played Beauty and the Beast two nights, so we only had two different shows over the course of our sailing. Not a huge deal and we went to Beauty and the Beast twice. It was so spectacular and well done!
Transportation from WDW: I read a lot of questions about this process, so I'll share our experience. We were picked up from Port Orleans Riverside by the Cruise line at 12:30. The whole bus was filled with Riverside guests, so went directly to the port after pick up. We arrived at the port around 1:30 and there was no line to board. We were on the boat by 1:45. When we entered, as other DIS posters had mentioned, they try really hard to usher you to Cabanas even if you ask about the MDR. We checked the Navigator and arrived at the Enchanted Garden in time for lunch there. We were some of the last people in though, and you could tell they were working on breaking things down for dinner. They brought us random desserts without us telling them what we wanted, but we didn't complain since we understood their time constraints. I think I would use the cruise transportation from the parks again for the sheer convenience of the process. It was a bit of a bummer to miss out on those few earlier hours on the ship to hit the Aquaduck, etc... but it was really nice to just walk on and skip the lines!
Nassau: We did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter. It was a neat experience, but there is a somewhat lengthy boat ride there and back and I'm not positive my kids wouldn't have enjoyed another day on the ship more.
Kids Clubs: We didn't use these, so can't comment on this area.
Aqueduck and pools: This is an area DCL could improve in. The pools are just completely inadaquate for the number of children on board. During the nice weather times of the day, you can't even move in the pools. Not fun. Similar situation with the Aquaduck. If you don't want to wait in a long line, you have to go on it early in the morning or late at night. These times were really cold and windy on our sailing.
Weather: It was great. 80's and some sun every day. A few sprinkles one night around 9 pm but very short lived. The captain shared that he navigated to avoid the rain, which we appreciated!
Smoothness of "ride": Excellent. It truly never was rocky or a problem in the least. We all slept so well with the gentle waves.
General Tips Based on our experience:
*Do some of the activities on the sea day. They are all so good! We did the Mickey 200 where you design racecars out of produce and it was a blast!
*Midship Detective Agency is a blast! We did the Muppets version and we all really had fun!
*The top deck with a great mini golf course, foosball table, and basketball hoops is super fun
*Get life jackets for your kids at CC even if they are older and can swim. It gets deep fast and it's just a nice way to be a bit more secure.
*The floating mats at CC are way more fun than the innertubes. My kids had an amazing time with theirs!
*There is a temptation to try to do everything! Especially if you have kids, build in some down time and rest periods to just hang out and relax together.
*MOrning on the sea day is a great time to find the ship un-busy. We were on the top deck at 8:30 before having breakfast and had the mini golf course and foosball table all to ourselves!
Literally the only thing that was not perfect on our cruise was not DCL's fault. We had an incredibly inconsiderate family above us. It sounded like there were about 5 kids in the room and every time they were in there, they were running back and forth, stomping, jumping, slamming doors, yelling, etc... It made it tough for us to enjoy our "quiet time" in the room, or on our verandah. We did call guest services twice and they were very nice and I think they did talk to them, because the noise would simmer down temporarily, but rev up again the next time they came back to the room.
Not sure what we could do to avoid this in the future, but thankfully it really was our only issue.
So this brief report has become really long. Best to everyone planning their cruise. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has as well.
First off, I just want to start by saying that our cruise was absolutely incredible. I had been a little concerned reading some of the posts about declining customer service, etc... but that just was not at all our experience. Literally EVERY employee we came into contact with was amazing. Full of the Disney magic you hope for on a Disney cruise. We did one day at EPCOT prior to the sailing, and while there were some great CMs there, there was absolutely no comparison at all between the DCL CMs and the CMs there. In addition to the customer service, I will comment on a few specific areas I knew I was curious about during my planning process.Food: We really enjoyed it. So many great options for the kids, and they were always willing to customize as needed. Per my request, they brought my kids a big bowl of watermelon nightly due to the fact that my son isn't a fan of the other fruits in their standard fruit bowl. The last night our server offered to bring us anything from any menu in any dining room without our even asking for this! Some of our dinners were better than others, but all were at least good. Some of our favorites:
*Creme brûlée (simply amazing!)
*Chicken tenders on pool deck
*Beef entree in Royal Palace
*My daughter loved the chicken noodle soup from room service. It's made with long spaghetti noodles, but she said it was really tasty!
*The whole meal at Castaway Cay. The fresh fruit stand is excellent and we all enjoyed our grilled meal there too!
*Pasta at embarkation lunch in the MDR
*Caesar salad at embarkation lunch in MDR. It was different than the one we later got from room service and much better, in my opinion!
*Blueberry muffins on the pastry tray in the MDR for breakfast!
We really stayed pretty far away from Cabanas. I am not a huge buffet fan in general and we liked the more relaxing, quieter, less chaotic experience in the MDRs. We did breakfast in the MDR 2 mornings and it really moved at a pretty decent pace. Our kids didn't mind, especially since the pastry tray was available while they were waiting!
We did lunch on embarkation day in the MDR, which was such a quiet, relaxing way to start our cruise! One day we did room service for lunch (just okay), and one day we ate on the pool deck, which was actually really good! The fresh fruit and salads up there are so nice, too!Shows: SO GOOD! The only disappointment was that due to the Avengers premier, they showed that in the theatre in place of a stage show one night. Our kids are too young for that, so we just skipped it. They also played Beauty and the Beast two nights, so we only had two different shows over the course of our sailing. Not a huge deal and we went to Beauty and the Beast twice.
It was so spectacular and well done!Transportation from WDW: I read a lot of questions about this process, so I'll share our experience. We were picked up from Port Orleans Riverside by the Cruise line at 12:30. The whole bus was filled with Riverside guests, so went directly to the port after pick up. We arrived at the port around 1:30 and there was no line to board. We were on the boat by 1:45. When we entered, as other DIS posters had mentioned, they try really hard to usher you to Cabanas even if you ask about the MDR. We checked the Navigator and arrived at the Enchanted Garden in time for lunch there. We were some of the last people in though, and you could tell they were working on breaking things down for dinner. They brought us random desserts without us telling them what we wanted, but we didn't complain since we understood their time constraints. I think I would use the cruise transportation from the parks again for the sheer convenience of the process. It was a bit of a bummer to miss out on those few earlier hours on the ship to hit the Aquaduck, etc... but it was really nice to just walk on and skip the lines!
Nassau: We did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter. It was a neat experience, but there is a somewhat lengthy boat ride there and back and I'm not positive my kids wouldn't have enjoyed another day on the ship more.
Kids Clubs: We didn't use these, so can't comment on this area.
Aqueduck and pools: This is an area DCL could improve in. The pools are just completely inadaquate for the number of children on board. During the nice weather times of the day, you can't even move in the pools. Not fun. Similar situation with the Aquaduck. If you don't want to wait in a long line, you have to go on it early in the morning or late at night. These times were really cold and windy on our sailing.
Weather: It was great. 80's and some sun every day. A few sprinkles one night around 9 pm but very short lived. The captain shared that he navigated to avoid the rain, which we appreciated!
Smoothness of "ride": Excellent. It truly never was rocky or a problem in the least. We all slept so well with the gentle waves.
General Tips Based on our experience:
*Do some of the activities on the sea day. They are all so good! We did the Mickey 200 where you design racecars out of produce and it was a blast!
*Midship Detective Agency is a blast! We did the Muppets version and we all really had fun!
*The top deck with a great mini golf course, foosball table, and basketball hoops is super fun
*Get life jackets for your kids at CC even if they are older and can swim. It gets deep fast and it's just a nice way to be a bit more secure.
*The floating mats at CC are way more fun than the innertubes. My kids had an amazing time with theirs!
*There is a temptation to try to do everything! Especially if you have kids, build in some down time and rest periods to just hang out and relax together.
*MOrning on the sea day is a great time to find the ship un-busy. We were on the top deck at 8:30 before having breakfast and had the mini golf course and foosball table all to ourselves!
Literally the only thing that was not perfect on our cruise was not DCL's fault. We had an incredibly inconsiderate family above us. It sounded like there were about 5 kids in the room and every time they were in there, they were running back and forth, stomping, jumping, slamming doors, yelling, etc... It made it tough for us to enjoy our "quiet time" in the room, or on our verandah. We did call guest services twice and they were very nice and I think they did talk to them, because the noise would simmer down temporarily, but rev up again the next time they came back to the room.
Not sure what we could do to avoid this in the future, but thankfully it really was our only issue. So this brief report has become really long.
Best to everyone planning their cruise. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has as well.
