Cruising the Dream on our 1st cruise ever!!! (5 Night Double Dip)

[Leshaface]

I'm here!

Okay so i'm way behind, but you had me scared at the jaw locking part. Could you imagine if your jaw stayed like that for the trip? I would have cried for sure.

Don't you wish Disney had Pepsi products?! The only soda we drink is Dr. Pepper so it was pretty difficult to stop looking and asking for Dr. Pepper while at WDW or on the cruises. Such a headache.

Off to read some more!

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm here!

Okay so i'm way behind, but you had me scared at the jaw locking part. Could you imagine if your jaw stayed like that for the trip? I would have cried for sure.

Don't you wish Disney had Pepsi products?! The only soda we drink is Dr. Pepper so it was pretty difficult to stop looking and asking for Dr. Pepper while at WDW or on the cruises. Such a headache.

Off to read some more!

So glad you came over! I really was worried about that. There was just no time to go to the doctor, I still had packing to do. I definitely would have cried if it lasted.

If I had found the little stand I've bought some from before I would have probably bought ten bottles. I already had garden grocer delivering some at Jambo House so I knew I'd be ok when I got there. I did survive but life is so much better when you have your favorite things.

 

[Leshaface]

Just got through all your updates.

Great job on the pictures! And your description of your trip is wonderful! Awesome detail. My DH was sitting next to me while I was reading your Animators Palate update and we both drooled over the black truffle pasta... We LOVED those on the Dream! Too bad they didn't have them on the Wonder.

So you did use your points for this cruise? Did you have points leftover to use at WDW or did you pay cash for it?

 

[Pinkocto]

Just got through all your updates.

Great job on the pictures! And your description of your trip is wonderful! Awesome detail. My DH was sitting next to me while I was reading your Animators Palate update and we both drooled over the black truffle pasta... We LOVED those on the Dream! Too bad they didn't have them on the Wonder.

So you did use your points for this cruise? Did you have points leftover to use at WDW or did you pay cash for it?

Thank you!

They were so delicious. I should have just gotten two orders of those for my entree.

So I got exactly what you guys did, 160 points, and since they gave the previous years points also I had 320 points to start with. I had no more vacation time for the year so banked them all. Doing that I was able to use points for the cruise and WDW. you do have to pay a $95 fee to use the points to cruise, but I factored that into the cost and still saved about $2400 using points instead of cash. Thats just on the cruise not even counting the savings for WDW. A lot of people don't like to cruise on points because it uses up so many points that you could stay at a resort for a couple weeks instead, but I just don't have that kind of flexible time right now. Feel free to ask anything about DVC, I'm totally in love with it and am happy to share if I can.

 

[Linda67]

Another great update

Loved your review of AP, such great detail

 

[jerseygirl74]

I love your report!! We are going on our first cruise in a few weeks . What do you recommend as an absolute MUST do? I love the advice of previous cruisers. Thanks in advance. I am on board for the rest of your report

Michelle

 

[Pinkocto]

Another great update

Loved your review of AP, such great detail

Thank you! I didn't mean for day 1 to take so long, but since we did so much I don't want to skim over important things.

 

[Pinkocto]

I love your report!! We are going on our first cruise in a few weeks . What do you recommend as an absolute MUST do? I love the advice of previous cruisers. Thanks in advance. I am on board for the rest of your report

Michelle

Congratulations!!! You are going to love it! What ship are you on? Which itinerary are you doing?

If you're on the Dream or Fantasy definitely do the Aquaduck at least once, it was fun.

Definitely do a sit down breakfast if they offer it. It was so relaxing.

Definitely go to the shows at night.

Try and stay up for the pirate party after the fireworks it was so much fun. They have a dessert buffet that night also and it's not to be missed.

And most of all enjoy each and every thing while you're doing it. Don't stress about the next thing to do. If you miss something no big deal, just relax and have fun.

 

[dgbg100106]

that to me is the key for all cruises, relax and have fun, go into it with an open mind.

I ALWAYS try and sit down to breakfast, or have it delivered to my room. I HATE the buffet. Too many people and too much nasty attitudes early in the day!

Anyway, glad to see you are enjoying yourself

 

[jerseygirl74]

Congratulations!!! You are going to love it! What ship are you on? Which itinerary are you doing?

If you're on the Dream or Fantasy definitely do the Aquaduck at least once, it was fun.

Definitely do a sit down breakfast if they offer it. It was so relaxing.

Definitely go to the shows at night.

Try and stay up for the pirate party after the fireworks it was so much fun. They have a dessert buffet that night also and it's not to be missed.

And most of all enjoy each and every thing while you're doing it. Don't stress about the next thing to do. If you miss something no big deal, just relax and have fun.

We are going on the Dream 4 night Bahamas cruise. Cant wait. Thanks for all the tips.

Look forward to the rest of your trip report and pictures (love the pictures)

 

[Pinkocto]

that to me is the key for all cruises, relax and have fun, go into it with an open mind.

I ALWAYS try and sit down to breakfast, or have it delivered to my room. I HATE the buffet. Too many people and too much nasty attitudes early in the day!

Anyway, glad to see you are enjoying yourself

I had a nice long reply typed and my computer froze.

It really made a difference to just relax and go with the flow. If we missed something we knew we'd be back next year so no big deal. This was truly one of the most relaxing vacations I've ever had even though it was packed with fun every day.

We'll definitely be doing sit down breakfasts more next time. The only reason we didn't do it more than once this time is that I wanted to experience every option to see what I liked best, and it is hands down the sit down breakfast. We really didn't encounter too many grumps, most everybody seemed to really be having a great time. There were of course a few, but it was surprising how happy everybody was.

 

[Pinkocto]

We are going on the Dream 4 night Bahamas cruise. Cant wait. Thanks for all the tips.

Look forward to the rest of your trip report and pictures (love the pictures)

That's going to be nice The lines for the Aquaduck were the shortest on port days and at night. At night it's sometimes open until midnight and you can just walk on. Keep in mind the person in the back is going to get soaked.

You are going to have so much fun! If you rebook on board they give you 10% off your next cruise and an onboard credit for your next cruise.

Thank you

 

[pequele]

more more more!!!!

I want to take my 3yo son on one of the Disney Cruises some day. I got a post card from AAA a few months ago (before our 1st trip to WDW in Feb actually). He saw it and saw the "Mickey Boat"! He wants to go on the Mickey Boat haha. They have some that go out of NY to Canada that were decent prices, I don't think I want to use my points for a cruise (yup I bought into DVC on our 1st trip to WDW haha...AKV!). We are excited to make our first trip in Dec to Kidani. If I had some extra $ hanging around I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to buy some points at Aulani, BUT I'm pretty sure I'll have to put that on my 5 or 10 yr plan

 

[Pinkocto]

Very cool you got DVC so early in your 'Disney' life. I dont know how else to word it. You will never regret it, the savings are amazing!

When you can definitely do a cruise, you both will love it.

Disney at Christmas is so beautiful.

More to come but I don't think I'll be able to get an update in today, have to be up super early. But soon I promise

 

[Pinkocto]

Before leaving dinner our head server, Charlie, told us where we could have breakfast in the morning and where lunch was available. He also told his favorite dishes for dinner. Each night he did this, it was helpful. So we said goodbye to everyone and headed to our stateroom with a stop off at Shutters so I could drop off the raffle entry tickets they gave us shortly after boarding. You had to drop them off between 8-11 and had to get a little tour of Shutters. I figured it couldn't hurt to enter but of course we didn't win. You can enter as many people as are in your stateroom and it was something like 20 free photo credits. Of course I had to take some photos on the way.

This was a 3D sculpture on the wall. I thought it was so gorgeous and hate that it's blurry since it is the only photo I got of it but I have to show it anyway. Peter Pan is one of my all time favorites and the mermaids one of the highlights.

Could Donald be any cuter!

All the white part is individual crystals. It is truly a spectacle, so beautiful!

At this point I have finally gone to Shutters on my own because mother was captivated by the piano player and singer. This happened many times later on in the cruise, but this time I was so exhausted from all the activities of the day I just sat down in a chair and would have fallen asleep if she hadn't noticed me with my eyes closed. So I painfully got myself out of the, at the moment, most comfortable chair ever and slowly walked to the stateroom.

We were greeted by a towel cake.

There was a message from Amile the DVC guy saying please call him he needed to tell me something. Of course this made me worried there was something wrong but it was close to 11 by this time and he didn't answer the phone so I left him a message. While I waited for the shower I took the opportunity to document in my journal. I was about half a day behind so knew I had to make haste and document quickly! I still didn't get caught up until the next morning but I'm so glad I took the time to keep track of everything. Anyway, we discussed breakfast options and decided if we were up in time we would go to the Royal Palace since that was the sit down option but it was only open from 8-9:30 so if we didn't get up in time we would have to revise our plans. We were not planning on getting off the ship so we could go at our leisure.

Whew! Day 1 finally completed. Thanks for hanging in there everyone

Next up breakfast at the Royal Palace.

 

[Leshaface]

What a great first day!

Oooh i'm wondering what Amile wanted??? Can't wait for breakfast at Royal Palace.

On this past cruise (MR) I was so good the first four days with writing everything down in my journal. Then by the fifth day I was done. Wondering if you'll get like that soon

 

[Pinkocto]

Day 2: This is Wednesday 3/14/12, Nassau Day. We were originally going to do the Atlantis Aquaventure where you have a day at the waterpark. I was so excited about doing this I can't tell you. I had made mom sit down and look at all the excursions available months before and we both agreed it would be tons of fun. I booked it at my 75 days and everything. However, after thinking about it for a few weeks we both agreed it would probably be really nice to stay on the ship and just explore since it was our first time on the Dream and one of the things I'd read over and over is people wished they gave themselves more time on the ship. It was a really good decision.

So I woke up around 8:15 which was a miracle since I went to sleep after midnight and had been up since 4 the morning before, but I just couldn't go back to sleep I was so excited to be on the ship. We watched the ship dock which was very cool in and of itself and then headed to the Royal Palace like we planned. I did try to call Amile again but he didn't answer. I was starting to get a little worried something was wrong with my new contract.

They have a menu outside so you can check it out before going in, and we asked the CM who was handing out the hand wipes what was good. He was so nice. All the CMs were so nice though. Everyone went above and beyond to make sure we were having the best time possible. They did ask our stateroom and how many would be dining and then escorted us to a lovely table by the windows.

If you haven't been following all the chatting I highly recommend doing a sit down breakfast at least once. It was so relaxing and you could pretty much get all the food available at the buffet but this way they bring it to you.

The lovely Carolina took care of our beverages and brought us pastries.

I had a croisant and a bite of a blueberry muffin which are usually my favorite but this was whole wheat and not pleasant to me. Mom had a croisant and raspberry danish. The only thing that lasted for a picture was the blueberry muffin. I still wasn't getting the hang of food pictures sorry.

I also had a bowl of fruit. Nothing compared to the deliciousness of the offerings at Flo's V-8 Cafe but adequate for breakfast.

Mom had a mango yogurt granola item. She loved it. I took one tiny bite and it was not my cup of tea. It got semi eaten before I remembered my picture. I was not at my best that morning

I had a mushroom and cheese omlette, with hashbrowns, and it automatically came with toast. Very very delicious.

Mom had a trio of french toast, waffle, and pancake. I got such a closeup it looks huge but it really wasn't. She ended up also getting a mushroom and cheese omlette. It looked the same as mine so I didn't take a photo.

Breakfast was fabulous. Please take the time to do a sit down breakfast, it starts the day off really nicely.

 

[Pinkocto]

What a great first day!

Oooh i'm wondering what Amile wanted??? Can't wait for breakfast at Royal Palace.

On this past cruise (MR) I was so good the first four days with writing everything down in my journal. Then by the fifth day I was done. Wondering if you'll get like that soon

I was just so excited about finally getting Aulani I didn't want there to be a problem with anything. I wasn't panicked but I was a little worried.

I was so good. The journal went with us everywhere and whenever we were sitting and relaxing I was writing until I was caught up. I did this on my recent trip to Mexico and it was so nice to do I swore I would continue doing it for every trip in the future. Hopefully I can do it.

 

[Sereina]

Mmmmm! All that yummy breakfast food is making me hungry! I loved the sit down breakfasts as well and went almost every morning. It's a great way to start of the day.

 

[Shell54]

Your Royal Palace breakfast looks delish. We made a point of eating lunch there one day because we missed our rotational dinner there to eat at Remy Royal Palace was gorgeous wasn't it?? We saw the ship's captain and several officers eating lunch there while we were there. People have said that they don't eat in the public dining rooms but there they were!! Great food pics yum