DCL is a Dream! First time on DCL - 4 Night Dream

[BrytEydBelle]

I am just off my first time DCL cruise (have cruised twice previously with Carnival and three times with RCL). I love to cruise and love Disney so I have long wanted to sail with Disney. I originally booked last March for my sister and I (another Disney/cruise fan) and we had been anxiously awaiting for over a year, with awesome hotel stays at Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Boardwalk Villas around the cruise dates to round out the trip into an eight day day trip.

Initial drama happened in early April when I awoke to a sobbing call from my sister - I had booked the wrong week as I thought she had a break in classes. As we were well past the pay in full date, I could not cancel without a large penalty. Luckily, since I was the primary name on the reservation, a wonderful representative at Disney was able to switch the second name to my husband's for only a $50 penalty. I still thought about canceling as I felt (and still feel) so terrible taking the trip without my sister, but I am also kind of cheap, and the idea of losing $750 for nothing was not anything I could stomach.

So the trip consists of me and my husband Ronnie (no children). Ronnie is indifferent to Disney...he thinks it is ok, but he didn't grow up on it like I did, so he doesn't have the nostalgia. He also dislikes the beach, sun and swimming, lol. His ideal cruise would be Alaska or Europe. I had a lot of anxiety over this as I wanted him to have a good time on the trip too since he only gets a week of vacation per year and is giving up the time (we were supposed to go to Savannah in the fall) so I won't lose my money.

Here is a picture of us from our Fall trip to MNSSHP.

We began our trip Sunday, 5/3 after he got off work...we drove from Myrtle Beach, SC to Port Canaveral and stayed at Four Points by Sheraton. Due to leaving so late (he didn't get home from work until four), we really just used the hotel to sleep. We arrived a little after 1 a.m.
I stayed a few years ago and liked the pool and hot tub, but didn't have a chance to use this trip. It was quiet, clean, and reasonably priced, so a good choice. I did have a hard time falling asleep as I was so excited for our cruise the next day!

 

[BrytEydBelle]

Day 1 - Embarkation at Port Canaveral

I worked out at the gym at the Sheraton. They have a nice enough gym and I was able to get right on the elliptical. I work out daily, but I didn't want to waste cruise time with it so I did my 50 minutes of cardio on very little sleep so I would be set for the day.

This was my first time parking at the port. In the past, I had either rented a car after flying or used one of the stay, park and cruise packages at the Radisson. Parking was very easy and I far preferred it to having to take a shuttle since it was just a quick walk across. No pictures unfortunately as we were dealing with so much luggage (no idea how I packed so much for a four day cruise). We arrived at 11:15, our PAT and were able to board immediately. Check in was a breeze despite the fact that I had forgotten to print out the documents that required a signature. We got our key cards and were on our way. I loved the touch of them announcing us onboard, it was so cute! My husband didn't know that it was coming and he was laughing when we were announced.

I wanted to get a Palo reservation, but that didn't open until 1 p.m. so we headed to Cabanas for lunch.

I have to say I really loved Cabanas. Best cruise buffet ever! The Finding Nemo theming was so cute and the food was really good. I loved the peel and eat shrimp they had for lunch every day. Below are my first plates:

Shrimp and focaccia (both good!)

Macaroni, swordfish and cranberry cheesecake. Macaroni was good, I was indifferent to everything else. My husband does not like food pictures and digs in right away, so I didn't get any of his : (

After lunch, we wandered down to the lobby where people were still boarding so we could get our Palo reservations. I had originally booked the Palo brunch for noon on the Nassau day as I am not a fan of Nassau, but they had since canceled brunches during port days. They were booked up online for our sea day, but they did have a ten a.m. reservation when I went there, so I booked it.

I got an awesome surprise after that, Stitch was meeting for photos on the deck four balcony (not scheduled). I love Stitch, so we ran up and joined the (fairly short) line.

Only 1:30 on day 1 and I already met my favorite character!

 

[BrytEydBelle]

The rooms were then opening up, so we headed down to deck two. I always book interior since I never spend much time in the room, and the Dream has the benefit of the awesome portholes....I prefer a porthole with Disney characters to a real balcony, so this was awesome.

Here is our stateroom door with magnets designed by Barbara, they are so cute and I loved how easy it made it to identify our cabin.

We met our stateroom attendant, Eva Marie who was very sweet and kept our room spotless the entire trip. I unpacked and we relaxed for a few before heading to the safety drill. No photos of that, it was pretty standard, though I felt like it was more efficient than other lines I have been on, perhaps they make it quicker due to the number of children on board? Either way, it was easy enough...we hung out on deck four for a few minutes to let the crowds go down before heading to deck 11 for the sail away party.

 

[BrytEydBelle]

The Sail Away Party was easily the best I've been to in four cruises. Obviously it is more youth focused than other lines sail aways due to the demographics of the cruise, but I am as mesmerized by Disney characters as a toddler, so I was set.

I did of course pair the sail away festivities with my first drink of the cruise, I believe it is a Bon Voyage (half pina colada/half strawberry daquiri). Tasty, but probably my least favorite of the cruise since the others were so much better.

Since we got up to deck a little late after waiting for crowds to clear, I could not see on deck 11 (I am on the shorter side, 5'3), so we headed up to deck 11. I was able to find a place for both of us, but my husband wanted to go to the stern of the ship and watch the takeoff from there, rather than the Disney show. So he headed to Stern, and I stayed to watch Mickey.

The show was very high energy and the music was good...I had expected more Disney music, but they used more pop hits (Taio Cruz, Black Eyed Peas). The cast members for the entertainment portions are insanely high energy. I don't know how they do it, I have never had that much energy in my life but they are fun to watch.

After the show, we went to the adult only hot tub for a while...I really liked the see through bottom of the hot tub. My husband didn't like to look at it as he said it gave him vertigo, but I enjoyed looking down into the ocean. We had the hot tub to ourselves the whole time, which was cool. I definitely loved how uncrowded the adult areas were, especially after seeing the crowds in the family pool. Somehow between the alcohol and the hot tub, we ended up missing the Golden Mickey show. I was sad as I wanted to see it, but it gives me something to look forward to next time.

 

[BrytEydBelle]

After missing the Golden Mickey's, we decided to dress early for dinner and head to the Balcony to meet Mickey. I was really excited to see him in his captain's attire.

Dress code was cruise casual, but I like to dress up for dinner while on a cruise...it is the most fun way to wear my cute dresses before "downgrading" them to work dresses. Hubby chose to keep it casual and one of the couples we dined with was from Michigan, so they appreciated his Detroit Tiger's attire. We ate with two couples around our age, none of us had children so our table was all adults. Our rotation was for Royal Palace first. Our server was Lydar, and he was great! Pretty interior, but other than the adorable carriage bread baskets, I didn't find it to be extremely Disney (I like to be smacked in the face with all the Disneyness of everything while on vacation). The food was good, I chose to get the deep fried brie as an appetizer, beef tenderloin as entree and creme brulee as dessert. I did either an appetizer or salad every night, had I done both, I would not have made it to dessert or likely even dinner. Somehow I missed getting a picture of the beef. I liked that they didn't hassle me about wanting it well done, I have had other cruise lines not want to cook it to well done, and I cannot bear meat with pink or red.


Deep fried brie:

Creme brulee - I was not a big fan, not enough burnt sugar on top..not as good as in Epcot, I would probably get the ice cream sunday next time.

Very tired after all the rich food! We walked around the ship a little, but then headed to bed to get some rest. Unfortunately, we were awoken by a loud clanging noise around 1 a.m. It kept going and we tried in vain to figure out what it was...sounded almost mechanical. Hubby eventually went to guest services. Guest services came with him to hear the noise, then put a call in to maintenance. Once they called, it stopped immediately, so we figured they were probably working on something and didn't realize how loud it was. Once that was over, we were able to get some sleep.

 

[marciemouse]

Your report is off to a great start!

 

[cheermom2four]

nice report so far!!

 

[disney2mom]

Joining....Great start to your TR, can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip! We were on the Dream for the first time in March and fell in love!! Can't wait until we get to cruise again

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

love your report can't wait to read more! i'm the same way with red meat - no pink! Love that you found Stitch he's the best! The sail away party is so fun - you are right they have SOO much energy! looking forward to next update!

 

[chefmb]

Joining! I'm planning our first cruise for April 2016--just DH and me--so your report is from a great perspective for me

 

[Purplejewel]

I am enjoying your TRIP report. Can't wait to read more.

 

[BrytEydBelle]

Thanks for the nice comments guys! I had intended to add more throughout the week, but work has been insane...downside of vacation, my work just piles up when I'm gone. So wish I was back on the Dream.

Day 2: Nassau

I am not a fan of Nassau so I had no plans whatsoever to get off the ship. Of all the places I've cruised to, I just don't care for it for some reason. I actually prefer Jamaica, despite the reputation. I originally intended to get up early to see Princess Minnie or Rapunzel who were meeting people before Nassau. However, because of the interruption to our sleep the night before, we ended up sleeping in until ten. We did the breakfast buffet. I am a big buffet fan on cruises...I am not a big eater (normally) and tend to pick at my food unless it is dessert, so buffets on land are usually a horrible value for me. I have never gone to a sit down restaurant for breakfast on a cruise and I have no future plans to : ) I started the day out right with a Mickey waffle and lots of bacon. There is also a chocolate pancake, which I could take or leave. For future breakfasts, I stick to the classics and just go with the Mickey waffles and bacon.

Looking back, I am still wowed by the detail...I even like the surface of the tables in the buffet since they are that mother of pearl looking material. My home is beach themed, so I wanted to steal everything! We went the wrong way leaving, and came across this guy near a bank of elevators. Absolutely loved the Nemo touches.

Outside, it was a gray, rainy day. There was a lot of nervousness in my facebook group as well as on the message boards about weather due to tropical storm Ana. I was very glad we hadn't done Atlantis or anything where we would have had to be outside for a long time. I had the brilliant idea since the weather was bad to try the Aquaduck. I knew from everything I'd read that lines are almost always bad unless you go during big events or port days (which usually doesn't include Nassau since a lot of folks stay on the ship), so I thought that bad weather may make the wait less. My husband is not a fan of water rides, so he kept my glasses and key card while I rode. For any future trip, I will be taking contacts even thought they bug my eyes so I can see. I enjoyed the ride, but I think it would have been better if I could have seen out of the clear tubing - I am terribly nearsighted and can only make out colors and shapes more than a few feet in front of my face without my glasses. Sadly, the photo they took on the ride did not ever turn up in our photos, and this was my only ride so I never got that. Oh well, one more reason to come back!

After that, I hit the gym to get my workout taken care of while my husband "read a book" (napped!). The gym was nice, lots of cardio machines and I never had a wait for the elliptical. I may be weird, but I love working out on a cruise. I feel like the motion adds resistance and you can't beat the view. After about an hour of that, I felt I had earned my second cruise drink: The banana Caribe. So delicious! It was the best cruise drink I'd had so far (including all my prior cruises).

After I enjoyed my drink and showered, my husband surprised me by wanting to go ashore. The weather had cleared up, and I think he was just curious about Nassau. He hated Jamaica as he was offered drugs so many times when we cruised there, so I was a little nervous as to what would happen in Nassau, as that is the only island I have ever been offered drugs on. Luckily, no offers this trip!

Someday I would like to see Atlantis, but I always get anxious in booking an excursion there since they fill up quickly, but you usually can't cancel if the weather is bad (from what I understand). I don't want to get locked into a pricy excursion that I wouldn't enjoy in bad weather. We basically ended up just walking around the shops downtown. For the first time on a cruise, I did not buy anything while at port. It had nothing to do with the new tax in the Bahamas, but the shops we looked at had primarily junky tourist stuff. I like tourist stuff, but it has to be decent quality. I like good quality clothing and cute things for my home...not a jewelry person, so the fancy jewelry stores do nothing for me. After about an hour of wandering, we were done and headed back onto the ship for lunch.

It was almost 2 at this point, so we hit the buffet (not that we would have gone anywhere else anyways). Today they had fried shrimp in addition to the peel and eat, so I got both along with sausage pizza and tiramisu. I lost the will to eat by the time I got to the tiramisu, but everything else was delicious. We then went outside to watch sailing away...I really love the Disney horns! Brings a smile to my face every time I think of them.

 

[BrytEydBelle]

We spent some time exploring the ship and looking at the artwork. This was one of my husband's favorite things to do on the ship. He loves art and since I love Disney, we could enjoying looking together. We ended up at the Vista Gallery which IMO had a good selection for such a small gallery. I have been eying the Thomas Kinkaide Little Mermaid picture for some time, but I always ended up not buying it since I didn't think my husband would want Disney Art in the main living area. However, he was automatically drawn to it and wanted to buy it right away. Score! I love it and we now have it hanging in our living room.

My big concern today was that I didn't want to miss the Villains show since we missed Golden Mickey's the night before. We still had some time to kill though, so I went to meet Donald...it was optional dress night, so he was in his tuxedo jacket -so cute! The lighting however did not agree with my camera, so the picture below is weird.

I knew the Villains show was not popular on the boards so I was unsure of what to expect, but we ended up both enjoying it. My husband prefers the villains to the "nice" disney characters and I am a big fan as well - always sad that Hades isn't at MNSSHP. The only annoyance about the show was how people kept coming in and out. On previous cruises I've done, all shows that I attended were late and mostly adult only, so you don't have quite as much of that. I think in the future, I will try to sit closer to the front so I don't see so many people in and out. I did enjoy the Villains and the Wind Beneath my Wings portion made me laugh. Glad we made it to this one!

After the show, we got ready for dinner...since I was dressed up I wanted a picture, so I went to pose with Chip and Dale (husband sat this one out as well, he is not big into the characters like I am). This was probably my best character interaction, they kept grabbing me and kissing my cheek and my glasses almost fell off. And I love that the photo op was in front of the Giant picture of Walt.

After the photo fun, we headed to Dinner at Animator's Palate


This ended up being our favorite restaurant. We were seated near a screen and Crush talked to my husband (got everyone to say "Hey, y'all" since we live in South Carolina). The food was good as well, but to me the decor was the high point, it really felt "Disney".

As for the food, I had the truffle pasta pursettes? for an appetizer...it was recommended by the waiter. For some reason, I was thinking that the mushrooms would be outside the pasta and I could take them off. That was not the case, so I really didn't eat it (I don't eat mushrooms).

Luckily, this was the only night I ordered a salad too, so I did have that. I got the salad with cider dressing, which was really good. All darker, leafy greens so no yucky iceburg lettuce for me.

My entree was the lemon thyme chicken, which I really enjoyed as well. Probably my favorite of the adult entrees the entire trip! It can be tough to have the food preferences of a six year old as an adult.

For dessert, I had the cookies and cream Sunday. So good! And chocolate Mickey is on it, so even better! Our server advises that we will return to this restaurant tomorrow as well for Pirate night. Loved this rotation - I will probably try to request it in the future.

After dinner, we were stuffed so we walked around the ship for a while, using the stairs to burn off 1% of the calories we consumed : ) We ended up at the 687 sports bar to watch the hockey game and to catch up on baseball scores. We are big Detroit Tigers fans, so we have a baseball package at home to never miss a game. My fingers are crossed for good weather at Castaway Cay, as that is my most anticipated day of the cruise. We head to bed around midnight so we can be up and at it the next day.