bbagnall
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2011
- Messages
- 177
Hello all! We have just returned from a glorious vacation in Florida. We spent 1 week at Disney World and then a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas on the Dream. I'll just put the cruise stuff here 
Transportation: We used Happy Limo for every leg of our trip and they were wonderful. They arrived on time, helped with luggage and provided great conversation to our destinations. Ask for JC!
Arrival at Port Canaveral: We arrived around noon and just walked on in. The terminal wasn't too busy. The only line we waited in was to get our pictures taken with Mickey, but even then it was 10 minutes tops. As someone who has never cruised before I was super curious about what would happen when I arrive so now I am able to inform others. When you arrive someone will be there to take your luggage (make sure you have your disney luggage tags on!), you will go through security. You will then go to check in and get your KTTW cards. I love those cards! I accidentally tried to use mine at the grocery store when I get back and she gave me a funny look! I told her it was connected to my credit card, but she didn't take it anyway *sigh*. Then you get on the boat!
Our room: We reserved a concierge deluxe family stateroom. If you can reserve cabin 12510, its great! The boat has a small bump out so it gives you a little more verandah space. The room was very clean and neat with a TON of storage space. I was concerned with the amount of luggage for 3 people, but there was space under the bed to put suitcases. There were also 2 bathroom areas, one shower room and one toilet room, both have sinks so you can get ready in both areas.
Concierge service: If you can afford it, go for it! When we checked in someone walked us on the boat, then once on the boat someone walked us directly to the concierge lounge. The lounge is fantastic, they serve you cocktails in the evening and they change the snacks about every 2-3 hours. We had breakfast there every morning, it's not bacon and eggs but we aren't big breakfast eaters. I found myself wandering in quite often to look for those little brownies on a stick. If you need anything, they are there to help. You don't even have to go to shutters to look at your photos, they keep your book in the lounge!
Food: We didn't visit Cabanas or any of the quick offerings, but we went to our rotational restaurant every night. They had a very large variety of appetizers and entrees to choose from and if you didn't like something you could switch it out. This is the best time to get something you always wanted to try without the price tage committment! The following reviews are my own opinion so don't hate me:
-Animator's Palate: the food here was really good, I had the potato soup to start and quite possibly the best chicken I have ever had in my life. I ordered chocolate cake for desert and our waitress even brought me a glass of milk. The only thing I didn't really like was the turtle talk stuff. When I'm at dinner I like to talk to the people at my table, not necessarily a screen. However the interaction was brief at it rotates from section to section. Overall, very very loud restaurant, but good food.
-Enchanted Garden: favorite restaurant on the rotational dining. Great food, great ambiance, quiet. Only downside we had second seating so we didn't get to see the "show" with the flowers. I had the romaine wedge and prime rib, both were wonderful and a fabulous cocktail, fall leaves. For desert I had two, the chocolate mousse and the sacher torte, the mousse was better.
-Royal Palace: beautiful place to dine. We had the special Christmas dinner. I tried the potato and cheese filled dumplings with cavier (see, trying new things!), the filet and potato gratin. For dessert I had flourless chocolate cake (does anyone see a pattern here). Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
-Palo. We had to go to Palo and it was amazing, best restaurant experience on the boat. I have no words for the food, it was absolutely perfect. Our waiter was Felice and he was super cute, super nice, and fabulous. However, not nearly as fabulous as the chocolate souffle I put into my mouth at the end of the evening. I tried to finagle a second seating just for souffle, but no such luck every other night was full. We also went to the brunch the next morning. Best brunch I have ever had. Table after table of food: sweet pastries, antipasto, seafood, then you choose a main entree, then you head over to the dessert table. BTW, complimentary mimosa yum!
Pirate Night: we went to the pirate night party and it was very fun. We didn't go to the buffet so I don't have any opinions on that. I will say that our pirate night was on the second night instead of the third and from everything I had read there would be a pirate night menu served at all of the restaurants, there was not. I don't know if it has been discontinued or since we were already having a special Christmas dinner menu they only decided to do that....The fireworks were beautiful.
Entertainment: on the Dream, they have 3 shows: Villains tonight, Golden Mickey's and Believe. Just in case you don't know, they are all musicals. My husband is not the biggest musical fan and you should have seen his face when I told him they were musicals. Villains tonight was first, it was funny and my favorite show. The next night was the Golden Mickey's it started out well, but then it got cheesier and cheesier. We didn't see Believe, we knew it was going to be cheesier than the Golden Mickey's and we didn't know if we had it in us. We went shopping instead.
Spa. We started with a tour of the spa, I would recommend not doing this, it seemed like a constant sales auction: try this cream, try this facial, try this detox. Don't do it! So I hope to clear up some Rainforest questions here. I remember I was very confused about the Rainforest room before I got on my cruise and was very concerned I would miss out on something. The Rainforest Room is within the Senses Spa, but it is a separate area that requires a special band. To get the special band you pay 16 dollars per day or 99 for the entire cruise. We choose to do the 1 day and we picked our sea day. You pay the 16 dollars even if you get a treatment. They told us they only sell 40 passes, so it doesn't get overly crowded. The Rainforest Room has 4 different fun showers with different temperatures, smells and water pressures. It also has 2 different steam rooms, 2 hot tubs and 8 heated tile loungers. It was nice to go sit in the jacuzzi and look out at the ocean and then warm up on one of those tile loungers. If I wanted to go to the spa, but didn't want to pay for a treatment, the rainforest room is the way to go.
My husband and I did the couples choice treatment. It was fabulous. You get your own seculded area with a hot tub, loungers, a shower and a treatment room. You start out with a foot cleansing ritual, then the technicians leave and give you time alone to hang out in the hot tub or take a shower. In about 20-30 minutes they come back and give you your treatment. Chris chose the sweedish full body massage, I chose the scrub with a full body massage. After your are finished your are given more time alone to sit outside on the deck with tea, fruit and chocolate. Our girls were wonderful, some people say that they tried to sell you products, but we didn't get a sales pitch at all before or after the treatment.
Nassau: We've never been to the Bahamas so we got off the boat. We got a taxi and went to the Ardastra Gardens, that was the best part of our day, it was really neat. The taxi picked us up and went back to the Straw Market. I'm sorry Straw Market sucks. It's row after row of the same things: baskets, fans, hats, baskets, fans, hats, I know people are trying to make a living, but nothing for me thanks. We went to the Pirate Museum, 12 bucks a head, not worth it. We went to Senor Frogs for lunch, food was good, margaritas were better, fun atmosphere. If I had young kids I wouldn't bring them here, unless maybe you're eating inside. In short, everyone says they stay on the boat in Nassau, next time I'm staying on the boat!
Castaway Cay: this is the only reason to go to the Bahamas with Disney. Perfect weather, perfect scenery, so much to do. I went snorkling for the first time in my life and I now want to snorkle the world's oceans. We did the stingray encounter and it was super fun with snorkling of course! We spent the rest of our day at Serenity Bay and it was child-free and fabulous. I almost forget, get a bunch of towels when you get off the boat. They are handing them out as you are walking to Castaway Cay. There are no towels on Castaway Cay, only towel returns.
Other notes: our boat was completely full, but it never felt like it was. The midship elevators are ridiculously full and slow. I would walk to either end first and then take the elevator, especially after the show or dinner. The adult only areas are wonderful and much more quiet than the other areas of the boat. People have mentioned the design of deck 12 and how it is weird. It's weird because that's where the adult areas are, but if you are staying on deck 12 concierge and have kids you have no choice but to pass through the adult areas. When I heard about this I was pretty miffed why kids in the adult areas, who designed this???? I can honestly say it was no big deal, no one was screaming or crying or deliberately trying to stay. They just passed through and that was that. I will also say that the ship does a great job of keeping you informed. We had constant video feed of what to do during the mandatory drill and what to do for leaving the boat. I was very worried that I would not know what to do or where to go and everyone was very helpful! We booked another cruise onboard, and Alaskan cruise and I am so so so so excited.
I know it's long and I'm sorry, I hope it was informative. Any questions????
Transportation: We used Happy Limo for every leg of our trip and they were wonderful. They arrived on time, helped with luggage and provided great conversation to our destinations. Ask for JC!
Arrival at Port Canaveral: We arrived around noon and just walked on in. The terminal wasn't too busy. The only line we waited in was to get our pictures taken with Mickey, but even then it was 10 minutes tops. As someone who has never cruised before I was super curious about what would happen when I arrive so now I am able to inform others. When you arrive someone will be there to take your luggage (make sure you have your disney luggage tags on!), you will go through security. You will then go to check in and get your KTTW cards. I love those cards! I accidentally tried to use mine at the grocery store when I get back and she gave me a funny look! I told her it was connected to my credit card, but she didn't take it anyway *sigh*. Then you get on the boat!
Our room: We reserved a concierge deluxe family stateroom. If you can reserve cabin 12510, its great! The boat has a small bump out so it gives you a little more verandah space. The room was very clean and neat with a TON of storage space. I was concerned with the amount of luggage for 3 people, but there was space under the bed to put suitcases. There were also 2 bathroom areas, one shower room and one toilet room, both have sinks so you can get ready in both areas.
Concierge service: If you can afford it, go for it! When we checked in someone walked us on the boat, then once on the boat someone walked us directly to the concierge lounge. The lounge is fantastic, they serve you cocktails in the evening and they change the snacks about every 2-3 hours. We had breakfast there every morning, it's not bacon and eggs but we aren't big breakfast eaters. I found myself wandering in quite often to look for those little brownies on a stick. If you need anything, they are there to help. You don't even have to go to shutters to look at your photos, they keep your book in the lounge!
Food: We didn't visit Cabanas or any of the quick offerings, but we went to our rotational restaurant every night. They had a very large variety of appetizers and entrees to choose from and if you didn't like something you could switch it out. This is the best time to get something you always wanted to try without the price tage committment! The following reviews are my own opinion so don't hate me:
-Animator's Palate: the food here was really good, I had the potato soup to start and quite possibly the best chicken I have ever had in my life. I ordered chocolate cake for desert and our waitress even brought me a glass of milk. The only thing I didn't really like was the turtle talk stuff. When I'm at dinner I like to talk to the people at my table, not necessarily a screen. However the interaction was brief at it rotates from section to section. Overall, very very loud restaurant, but good food.
-Enchanted Garden: favorite restaurant on the rotational dining. Great food, great ambiance, quiet. Only downside we had second seating so we didn't get to see the "show" with the flowers. I had the romaine wedge and prime rib, both were wonderful and a fabulous cocktail, fall leaves. For desert I had two, the chocolate mousse and the sacher torte, the mousse was better.
-Royal Palace: beautiful place to dine. We had the special Christmas dinner. I tried the potato and cheese filled dumplings with cavier (see, trying new things!), the filet and potato gratin. For dessert I had flourless chocolate cake (does anyone see a pattern here). Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
-Palo. We had to go to Palo and it was amazing, best restaurant experience on the boat. I have no words for the food, it was absolutely perfect. Our waiter was Felice and he was super cute, super nice, and fabulous. However, not nearly as fabulous as the chocolate souffle I put into my mouth at the end of the evening. I tried to finagle a second seating just for souffle, but no such luck every other night was full. We also went to the brunch the next morning. Best brunch I have ever had. Table after table of food: sweet pastries, antipasto, seafood, then you choose a main entree, then you head over to the dessert table. BTW, complimentary mimosa yum!
Pirate Night: we went to the pirate night party and it was very fun. We didn't go to the buffet so I don't have any opinions on that. I will say that our pirate night was on the second night instead of the third and from everything I had read there would be a pirate night menu served at all of the restaurants, there was not. I don't know if it has been discontinued or since we were already having a special Christmas dinner menu they only decided to do that....The fireworks were beautiful.
Entertainment: on the Dream, they have 3 shows: Villains tonight, Golden Mickey's and Believe. Just in case you don't know, they are all musicals. My husband is not the biggest musical fan and you should have seen his face when I told him they were musicals. Villains tonight was first, it was funny and my favorite show. The next night was the Golden Mickey's it started out well, but then it got cheesier and cheesier. We didn't see Believe, we knew it was going to be cheesier than the Golden Mickey's and we didn't know if we had it in us. We went shopping instead.
Spa. We started with a tour of the spa, I would recommend not doing this, it seemed like a constant sales auction: try this cream, try this facial, try this detox. Don't do it! So I hope to clear up some Rainforest questions here. I remember I was very confused about the Rainforest room before I got on my cruise and was very concerned I would miss out on something. The Rainforest Room is within the Senses Spa, but it is a separate area that requires a special band. To get the special band you pay 16 dollars per day or 99 for the entire cruise. We choose to do the 1 day and we picked our sea day. You pay the 16 dollars even if you get a treatment. They told us they only sell 40 passes, so it doesn't get overly crowded. The Rainforest Room has 4 different fun showers with different temperatures, smells and water pressures. It also has 2 different steam rooms, 2 hot tubs and 8 heated tile loungers. It was nice to go sit in the jacuzzi and look out at the ocean and then warm up on one of those tile loungers. If I wanted to go to the spa, but didn't want to pay for a treatment, the rainforest room is the way to go.
My husband and I did the couples choice treatment. It was fabulous. You get your own seculded area with a hot tub, loungers, a shower and a treatment room. You start out with a foot cleansing ritual, then the technicians leave and give you time alone to hang out in the hot tub or take a shower. In about 20-30 minutes they come back and give you your treatment. Chris chose the sweedish full body massage, I chose the scrub with a full body massage. After your are finished your are given more time alone to sit outside on the deck with tea, fruit and chocolate. Our girls were wonderful, some people say that they tried to sell you products, but we didn't get a sales pitch at all before or after the treatment.
Nassau: We've never been to the Bahamas so we got off the boat. We got a taxi and went to the Ardastra Gardens, that was the best part of our day, it was really neat. The taxi picked us up and went back to the Straw Market. I'm sorry Straw Market sucks. It's row after row of the same things: baskets, fans, hats, baskets, fans, hats, I know people are trying to make a living, but nothing for me thanks. We went to the Pirate Museum, 12 bucks a head, not worth it. We went to Senor Frogs for lunch, food was good, margaritas were better, fun atmosphere. If I had young kids I wouldn't bring them here, unless maybe you're eating inside. In short, everyone says they stay on the boat in Nassau, next time I'm staying on the boat!
Castaway Cay: this is the only reason to go to the Bahamas with Disney. Perfect weather, perfect scenery, so much to do. I went snorkling for the first time in my life and I now want to snorkle the world's oceans. We did the stingray encounter and it was super fun with snorkling of course! We spent the rest of our day at Serenity Bay and it was child-free and fabulous. I almost forget, get a bunch of towels when you get off the boat. They are handing them out as you are walking to Castaway Cay. There are no towels on Castaway Cay, only towel returns.
Other notes: our boat was completely full, but it never felt like it was. The midship elevators are ridiculously full and slow. I would walk to either end first and then take the elevator, especially after the show or dinner. The adult only areas are wonderful and much more quiet than the other areas of the boat. People have mentioned the design of deck 12 and how it is weird. It's weird because that's where the adult areas are, but if you are staying on deck 12 concierge and have kids you have no choice but to pass through the adult areas. When I heard about this I was pretty miffed why kids in the adult areas, who designed this???? I can honestly say it was no big deal, no one was screaming or crying or deliberately trying to stay. They just passed through and that was that. I will also say that the ship does a great job of keeping you informed. We had constant video feed of what to do during the mandatory drill and what to do for leaving the boat. I was very worried that I would not know what to do or where to go and everyone was very helpful! We booked another cruise onboard, and Alaskan cruise and I am so so so so excited.
I know it's long and I'm sorry, I hope it was informative. Any questions????
