Disney Dream 3-night, first time cruisers report

[anricat]

We are first time cruisers and we recently got home from a 3-day aboard the dream (we set sail June 5). I'll post this in multiple pieces as I write them. This post is for the day before we sailed and then embarkation day. The cast of characters includes me, my DH and my DD who is about a month shy of 6 years old.

Wednesday
Wednesday was a travel day. We departed for Orlando from Austin in the afternoon, arriving into Orlando in the late evening. We picked up some dinner in the airport food court before checking into a room at the Hyatt Hotel located inside the airport terminal. It was convenient, clean and comfortable.

Thursday
We woke up in the morning and got ready to go. I had packed a packing cube with just the items we would need for embarkation morning so we wouldnt have to repack everything. We needed to be ready for our luggage to get picked up from the room by 8:30. We finished just in time as they came to collect our luggage to take to the ship for us. We headed back to the same food court for breakfast and then made our way to the bus service from the airport to the terminal. The first bus was just pulling away when we got there so we hopped on the next bus, arriving a the Disney Cruise Line terminal in Port Canaveral a little after 10:30.

We made our way through security, and then check-in. We were assigned to boarding group number 2 and then we waited for boarding to begin. While we waited, we got a picture with Goofy who was greeting in the terminal and then we stopped to use the bathroom. They started boarding around 11:25 and our group was called pretty quickly after that (before 11:30).

We stopped briefly to take our embarkation photo (just DD and I because DH didn't want to) and then headed onto the ship. We entered the lobby with it's huge chandelier and beautiful decor, with a retro nod to old luxury ocean liners. We hopped an elevator and headed straight for deck 11 - the pool deck. We had our swim suits on under our clothes so we could get right in. DD splashed around in the shallow Mickey pool while I watched and DH sat in a deck lounger and handled an issue that came up at work.

Once they opened up the Aquaduck DD and I rode, but she was not a fan - too fast with too much of a drop at the beginning. So we headed back to the Mickey pool and the Mickey slide (which she did like and rode repeatedly). DH was done with his work issue so we toweled off and headed for the lunch buffet at Cabanas. Lunch was fine. Not amazing, but certainly not the worst buffet I've ever had. They had a lot of choices and we all found things we could eat. Then DD had her first of many ice cream cones.

Rooms weren't going to be ready until 1:30 and it was just a bit after 1 so I went and took DD to the Oceaneer Club to get her signed up to participate in the activities there. We had signed up online, but we needed to check in and get her wrist band and we knew not to wait in that crazy line in the terminal. Still, it took a little while because there was only one crew member on duty, but we got it done and then went in there to play a bit during the open house. While we were playing, the rooms opened up and DH went and took our carry on bags to the room.

DD and I met up with him there and regrouped before heading to check out the "Midship Detective Agency" game. The game is a very clever little scavenger hunt game where you could find framed pictures on the walls of the ship (the whole ship was covered in really lovely artwork inspired by various Disney films and characters). These special pieces of art would come alive when you stood in front of them and if you were playing the came, you could hold up your game card to interact with the art to find clues to solve a mystery. It was a good way to see different parts of the ship.

By that time we were ready to sail away so we went to deck 11 for the sailing away party. Mickey and the gang put on a song and dance show and we pulled out of port. Sailing away, the ships horn played "A Dream Is a Wish Your Hearth Makes" and we waved at the Port Canaveral webcam, hoping our family members could catch a glimpse of us, but evidently the camera panned out before it reached our position at the aft of the ship.

We had the Second Seating for dinner which meant that our dining time was 8:15. Our show time was 6:15. Before the show we snacked poolside and once our luggage was delivered, we unpacked our things into the many little drawers, cabinets and closets in our stateroom. We stowed our suitcases under the bed and got ready to go to the first night's show - "The Golden Mickey's." In between the show and dinner, we planned to meet Cinderella, with DD in her Cinderella dress I had made for her so she got dressed up before we went down.

"The Golden Mickey's" show is a riff on an awards show, complete with a red carpet and an interviewer with a camera that feeds into the theatre. The interviewer asks the children about what characters they are looking forward to. It's very cute and the charm is enhanced by the kids say the darndest things factor. DD was interviewed and everyone commented on how cute she was in her Cinderella dress.

After the show (which was quite enjoyable) we found Cinderella greeting in the lobby and met with her. Then we were able to meet Tiana as well before we went back to our room to change before dinner. The Disney Dream has three main dining rooms and on a three night cruise, you eat in each dining room once with the same table and the same serving team. Our server Nue was fantastic and we all liked her very much. Our first night was in the Royal Palace. We all had things we liked about our meal and things we loved. The food across the board fell into the very good category. I wouldn't say it was out of this world amazing (though we each had some really great individual dishes). Nothing was ever bad, though (except perhaps the incredibly dry and flavorless kid's steak).

We were seated with a family of five. An older husband and wife, their daughter and her two children, ages five and two (maybe?). DD was excited to make a new friend. We chatted with them some and they were nice. We didn't make life-long friends, but it wasn't a negative experience.

DD finished dinner first and was picked up by one of the youth activities counselor to go to the Oceaneer Club while DH and I finished our meal. When we were done with our meal, we picked her up and headed off to bed.

I should mention, once we were underway, I was not feeling so great. It wasn't so much that I had nausea (I had a touch here and there, but making sure my stomach wasn't empty helped a lot) but I could really feel the movement of the ship a lot and I had some vertigo and just generally feltweird. I had been taking Bonine since Tuesday to try to stay ahead of the motion sickness ( I'm very prone to it.) I was prepared for nausea, but completely unprepared to feel so off balance and just generally strange. And the faster the ship moved, the worse it was and we were headed fast through open water, crossing the gulf stream. The first night was definitely the worst night, but really any time we were in motion on the ship, I felt it. If we cruise again, I will get the patch from a doctor. DH was totally fine and DD complained a bit, but I think it was partly in response to my complaints. Though I think she felt that first night and I did end up giving her half a kids Dramamine that evening.

 

[MichelleVW]

I should mention, once we were underway, I was not feeling so great. It wasn’t so much that I had nausea (I had a touch here and there, but making sure my stomach wasn’t empty helped a lot) but I could really feel the movement of the ship a lot and I had some vertigo and just generally felt…weird. I had been taking Bonine since Tuesday to try to stay ahead of the motion sickness (I’m very prone to it). I was prepared for nausea, but completely unprepared to feel so off balance and just generally strange. And the faster the ship moved, the worse it was and we were headed fast through open water, crossing the gulf stream. The first night was definitely the worst night, but really any time we were in motion on the ship, I felt it. If we cruise again, I will get the patch from a doctor. DH was totally fine and DD complained a bit, but I think it was partly in response to my complaints. Though I think she felt that first night and I did end up giving her half a kids Dramamine that evening.

I was on the same sailing! It was me and my 23 year old daughter. I wasn't really sea sick but I did feel kind of funky on Friday. My stomach just felt icky all day which was weird. I really didn't feel the ship move except for Saturday night when we were headed back. I was super sea sick on my first cruise but haven't really had it happen since (this was my 6th cruise). I'm guessing I was a little sea sick on Friday....because nothing else really explains why my stomach felt so "off".

 

[anricat]

Friday
We awoke to the rumblings of the ship docking in Nassau. From a distance, it looks charming and the water is beautiful and blue. Many people don’t even get off the ship in Nassau, but we at least wanted to experience a new place so we got off. I was sort of ready to be off the ship for a bit anyway. We ate breakfast at Cabanas and headed out.

I thought I would feel better off the ship, but once on land, the ground was rolling and tilting in my perception. We went through the visitors center and we were accosted by various people offering tours and water taxis (mostly to Atlantis). We continued on and were accosted by a man offering buggy tours. We were interested in one and we also wanted to go to the pirate museum so we haggled him down to $30 for the three of us and climbed aboard.

Our driver was hard to understand (and hear) and the tour was hindered due to it being a national holiday in the Bahamas. We didn’t know before leaving, but the first Friday in June is Labor Day in the Bahamas. So we wove around, trying to avoid the giant, noisy parade going on right through the middle of town. Our buggy tour was over without us really seeing much except for some mango trees and dilapidated buildings. We shopped a bit (in the stores that were actually open) for some souvenirs on our way to the pirate museum which was about a four block walk from the ship. We arrived at the pirate museum (which was actually one of the nicest-looking buildings in Nassau) to find a note on the door, “closed for holiday.” Bummed, hot and tired we headed back to the ship.

We ate lunch at Cabanas and then went back to the stateroom where we all had a nap. I dozed for a bit and let DD sleep for an hour so she’d be ready for pirate night. After waking her up, she and DH went swimming and I hung out on the pool deck and had a snack while watching Pixar shorts on the “funnel vision” (giant screen on the forward funnel above the pools). Then we went back to the room and got her changed so she could attend the “Tinkerbell’s Talent Show” activity in the Oceaneer’s Club.

While she was in the club, DH and I took the opportunity to ride the Aquaduck before heading back to the room for a shower and change for pirate night. We picked up DD at the club and got her changed into her pirate costume and went up to the lobby balcony to meet Mickey in his pirate outfit. When we were done there, it was time for our show. Friday night’s show was “Villian’s Tonight” which I was really looking forward to. It actually ended up being my least favorite of the three shows. It was a comedy show about the Disney villains, but the central character was the bad guy from “Hercules.” I don’t really remember “Hercules” and I can’t imagine most people do. The actors were all great and the theatrics were all fantastic, but there were sections that were just a bit too long with Hades.

After the show we had a few minutes to shop before the Mickey pirate show up on the pool deck (they cover up the swimming pools to fit everyone on the deck). DD looked around at what she might want to buy with the money she had saved up. We made note of the things she liked so we could narrow it down later. The Mickey pirate show up on the pool deck was really great. It was super cute and featured Captain Hook taking over the ship. They even had a cute video clip of overly dramatic frightened crew members tied up with giant ropes. After the show, we got some family photos taken of us all dressed up in our pirate outfits (which we got a lot of compliments on).

Dinner that night was in Animator’s Palate which was DD’s favorite dining experience (and also featured my favorite dish - truffle infused pasta pillows with champagne cream sauce). During the show, Crush the sea turtle from “Finding Nemo” comes around to the tables to interact with the kids. Using some form of Disney magic, the animated Crush actually has real-time conversations with the all the guests.

After dinner it was time for DD to go to “Pluto’s Pajama Party” in the Oceaneer Club. While she did that, we returned to our room and got some things cleaned up and changed out of our pirate costumes to get ready for the second pirate party (we decided we’d had enough of our costumes by that point). The second pirate party was kind of meh. Captain Jack’s dialogue was nearly impossible to understand. I know he’s a mumbly character, but this was really tricky to hear. So we just sort of waited that out for the fireworks. I wasn’t expecting much from fireworks on a boat but these really exceeded my expectations. It was a great fireworks show.

We were all pretty beat so we headed back to our room, skipping the pirate buffet and the pirate dance party.

 

[MichelleVW]

lol on not remembering Hercules!!! It's one of my family's favorite movies and we quote lines from it all the time!!! I love Villains Tonight but we have seen it a few times so we skipped it this time.

 

[anricat]

lol on not remembering Hercules!!! It's one of my family's favorite movies and we quote lines from it all the time!!! I love Villains Tonight but we have seen it a few times so we skipped it this time.

We'll have to check it out. We've been slowly making our way through all the Disney films the library nearby has.

My favorite show was "Believe." I did love Cruella's bit in "Villains" though. Actually, she was fantastic in both the shows she was in.

 

[anricat]

Saturday
We woke up to the ship docking at Castaway Cay. It was a beautiful sunny day and the water looked amazing. It was just absolutely gorgeous. I made a quick run up to Cabanas to grab a few pastries to tide us over so we could go meet princesses and then DH headed off the ship to run the Castaway Cay 5k. DD and I arrived 20 minutes early to the princess gathering and there was already a really big line. It was really cute though how the princesses made a grand entrance down the big staircase in the lobby. We met all the princesses in attendance (Tiana, Snow White, Ariel, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Belle) and were done with that around 9:20 at which time, we went up to Cabanas to have some more breakfast. We sat outside (I didn’t realize there was an outdoor seating area until the last day - bummer) and enjoyed the absolutely incredible view of the island. You can literally see the entire island from up there! It was amazing to see the sparkling blue water and the sand. (Have I mentioned Castaway Cay is beautiful?) After breakfast we headed down to get off the ship. DH came back to the ship after practically melting on the 5k. It was already getting really hot!

On the way off the ship we stopped for a quick picture with Daisy before hopping on to the tram to head to the Pelican Point section of the beach. We played in the water and the sand (DH joining us after a bit) and DD wanted to rent a float so I went and got one of those for $10. Eventually it was time for lunch so we headed over to “Cookies Too” (they have two BBQ spots on the island, “Cookies” and “Cookies Too”). I ordered up a veggie burger and DD and DH had cheeseburgers. We also enjoyed fresh fruit, potato salad, corn on the cob, chips and, of course cookies (DD had ice cream).

After lunch we headed to the kids area and checked DD in there so that DH and I could hit up the adult beach, Serenity Bay. It lives up to it’s name and reputation. It’s one of the most beautiful, calm beaches I have ever been to. I swam out to a buoy probably about 200 meters out (estimation based on how long it took me to get out there). All the way out, the water was incredibly clear (and not terribly deep). We hung out there for a short time, not long though because I wasn’t sure how long DD would want to be in the kid’s area. We headed back and picked her up and I left DH and DD to play in the water while I went to check out the water slide at Pelican Plunge. After I plunged (what a view at the top!), I decided DD wouldn’t like it so DD and I floated around the in the float while DH rode each of the two different slides. Throughout the day, the weather was beautiful. Sunny and warm (okay, hot) and we didn’t get any rain (even though there was a chance in the forecast). The water was a little cool at first, but felt great once in.

It was getting to be late in the day, so we headed back to the ship to get cleaned up. DD took a bath and DH and I took turns taking showers while she watched “The Jungle Book” on the TV in the room (which had pretty much every Disney film ever made on demand). We ordered a cheese and cracker plate and fresh fruit from room service (which was very tasty) and got ourselves ready for our last evening on board. Oh, the room service reminds me, the only other room service we ordered was hot cookies the night before and they were also great.

I had wanted to try to catch the Sea You Real Soon event, but by the time we were showered and ready for action again, we had missed it and the other one wasn’t until 10:15 PM, which was too late if we were going to finish packing and get to bed on time to our assigned breakfast time of 8 AM. So instead DH and DD went and played miniature golf and ping pong on Goofy’s Sports Deck while I went to Shutters to look at all the photos we had taken on the cruise and decide what we wanted to do about ordering them. Evidently half the ship had the same idea and Shutters was busy. I ended up purchasing a digital photo package with 10 images on a CD that I could pick up the next day. Actually, I picked up a CD of all our images which had the ability to unlock 10 of them in high(ish) res.

Then we noticed that Mickey was greeting in his captain’s outfit and even though we’ve already met Mickey in multiple other outfits, we decided the captain outfit would be fun so we did that. Then we saw that they were taking more family photos in the lobby in front of some different backgrounds and we decided to do that, too (and I’m glad we did both because we chose those two to be part of our ten images).

Then it was just about time for the show so we headed in and found some good seats. DD wanted popcorn (which costs money) and I had held her off successfully the previous two nights, but we caved and bought some the last night. This show, “Believe” was actually my favorite of the three. I liked it quite a lot. Really, all three shows were great, I just preferred this one. DD loved them all.

After the show, DD made her final purchases in the shops (again, along with half the ship that had the same idea) and then we attended the officer pin trading and she traded all the pins we brought to trade. After that we headed out to the lobby and we saw Pluto greeting so we jumped into that line to say hi to him. Then it was time for dinner so we headed to our last dining experience, Enchanted Garden. I thoroughly enjoyed both my dishes that night - a really refreshing cucumber veggie roll, spinach raspberry salad and a really delicious portobello mushroom and lentil dish. I should mention that I was so pleased with the variety of the DCL menus for vegetarians. Each menu had a specific section for vegetarian dishes. In most restaurants I have basically one choice on the menu. On the ship I had so many options. And the first night I ordered a vegetarian dish, our server asked. She also knew how DH liked his meat after the first night and she knew DD’s preferences as well.

DD didn’t want to go to the Oceaneer Club so she stayed until we were done and the assistant server taught her to make origami flowers. Our servers had a little more time to spend with us because the other family at our table didn’t arrive for dinner (we found out later that they were too tired and just had room service and pool-side food) and there were a couple of other dinner no-shows as well. I guess everyone was cooked from Castaway Cay. I have to say, some people were literally cooked. I saw a LOT of sunburned people.

We headed to our stateroom, finished packing and gave our luggage to our room steward (minus a carry on bag and stuff we would need for the next day) and fell into bed. It was a fantastic day and definitely my favorite day of the cruise.

 

[MichelleVW]

We'll have to check it out. We've been slowly making our way through all the Disney films the library nearby has.

My favorite show was "Believe." I did love Cruella's bit in "Villains" though. Actually, she was fantastic in both the shows she was in.

I love the Cruella bit!! It's my favorite!!

 

[anricat]

Sunday
The ship pulled into Port Canaveral around 6:15 AM and there was a LOT of vibration as it backed into port and it seemed to take a lot longer than our other dockings. I got up and showered and we finished packing everything before waking DD up to go to breakfast. On the way down I picked up our photo CD. On the last day, you dine in the same dining room as the night before and you are attended by the same serving team. It was great to see Nue and the assistant server Agus one last time. We had a nice little breakfast before it was time to head to the main lobby to get off the ship. We headed off the ship and down to the lower level to pick up our luggage and then make our way through customs. The line was exceedingly long and it took us quite awhile to get through it. Before heading out of the secure area, I asked if we could head back up to the main terminal to use the penny machine (we had forgotten on the way in). I was worried we wouldn’t be able to, but they let me go up into the empty second floor where we had boarded and smash a couple of pennies.

We exited the building and asked at the desk for the bus to our resort. We boarded the bus and then had to wait for awhile for more people to trickle on board for the hour ride over to Disney World. Luckily, our resort was the first stop, Port Orleans Riverside. We went to check in but our room wasn’t ready yet so we checked our baggage with bell services after reorganizing a couple of things then we boarded the bus to Epcot to begin the second half of our vacation.

Some final thoughts on the cruise as a whole:


When I initially booked a three day cruise, I did it because I was worried about not liking it or being seasick or feeling claustrophobic surrounded by so many people in such a small space (even though the boat is HUGE). Then as I got more excited about going, I was worried that we wouldn’t fit everything into a three day. But you know, while we didn’t do EVERYTHING we did do a lot and I think for our first trip, it was just right. I did occasionally feel like I was surrounded by lots and lots of people and I did end up having quite a bit of vertigo (though the nausea wasn’t too bad - just a touch). And the vertigo is still affecting me every now and then and I’ve been off the ship for four days now. I don’t regret the decision we made for our first time out.

The ship is beautiful and the crew is amazing. Everyone really goes out of their way to make sure you have a great vacation and it meant a lot. I never encountered anyone who was surly or problematic. I sort of feel like I got asked if I wanted to buy a cooler full of water a bit more than was necessary, but overall, the crew was fabulous.

The food was very good. Not amazing, but really quite good. The dining rooms were better than the buffets, but a good buffet can be pretty tricky. I had some good food on the buffet. The poolside food was not as good. Room service food was very good. If we’d had a sea day, I would have suggested one meal being room service.

The entertainment was top notch. From the shows to the children’s programs, everything was super great with special Disney magic. The only thing that was lacking was the kid’s area on Castaway Cay, which was basically a giant sand pit. It was sort of depressing. There was a sprinkler area, but DD said that they didn’t let them go in there (I don’t know why). I wish we could have squeezed in a movie. They were showing Malificent on board and I would have really liked to see it.

Would I cruise again? Yes, but not for awhile (2-3 years maybe). And my dreams of doing something like a Trans-Atlantic or a Panama Canal cruise are completely out the window. I just can’t be on the boat that long. I would feel too cooped up and I worry about having vertigo again. Though, next time I’ll definitely get the patch. If we cruise again, I’d like to try a different ship (though probably stick with Disney because everything was really great) and maybe an itinerary that stops twice at Castaway Cay. We didn’t rebook on-board (even though you get a discount). At one point long before the cruise I had considered it, but Disney has recently raised prices quite a lot and cruising in the future will require quite an outlay of money.

Our room was lovely. We had a large porthole window with a seat. The window was practically floor to ceiling and it was lovely. It was very far forward and we did a lot of walking. In a way, it was annoying to walk so far all the time to get to our room. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I burned off every calorie of dessert I ate. But I would definitely book the same category of stateroom again.

Overall, I’m really glad we tried something different for our vacation and everyone had a really good time.

 

[davidmolliesmum]

i really enjoyed your tp
was the photo cd expensive? and was it worth it?

 

[MichelleVW]

We were on the 9th floor right next to the midship stairs. It was super convenient for us. We usually prefer to be near the forward stairs since we mainly hang out at the adult pool.

It was crazy hot at Castaway Cay!! We were there from about 9:30 til 1:30 and couldn't take any more sun. The water felt great though!

We did see Maleficent, did a Character drawing class, a tequila tasting class, some trivia in the bars and two out of the three adult activities in Evolution at night. But I wasn't traveling with a child so our trips were totally different. (except for watching Disney movies in the room...we watched, Aristocats, Hercules, High School Musical 2 and 3, and Mulan!)

We wanted to do another character drawing class on Saturday since it was so fun on Friday, but we ended up taking a nap and then watching the University of Texas baseball game on the tv! I think we saw the movie at 6 before we went to dinner...but we didn't do any of the shows this time.

3 night cruises are short...but still fun!

 

[anricat]

i really enjoyed your tp
was the photo cd expensive? and was it worth it?

We paid $150 for the 10 photo CD. I think it was worth it, although we had a really hard time choosing and probably should have purchased the 15 photo CD. After we made our 10 selections, it offered to sell us an additional 5, but for $100 more. It was only $50 more to buy 5 more on the ship. So if you think you might want 15, get it on the ship since it's $50 more once you're off.

The only thing I really don't like is that some of the photos have stupid frames on them that we can't remove. For example, the photo of my daughter and princess Minnie has a big purple frame that we can't remove. Here's the image on my flickr stream.

It's not a big deal on screen, but we were printing 4x6 prints and it doesn't crop properly to 4x6 with the frame. They were also on most of our pirate night pictures and all the dining pictures had a frame with the name of the restaurant.

 

[anricat]

We were on the 9th floor right next to the midship stairs. It was super convenient for us. We usually prefer to be near the forward stairs since we mainly hang out at the adult pool.

It was crazy hot at Castaway Cay!! We were there from about 9:30 til 1:30 and couldn't take any more sun. The water felt great though!

We did see Maleficent, did a Character drawing class, a tequila tasting class, some trivia in the bars and two out of the three adult activities in Evolution at night. But I wasn't traveling with a child so our trips were totally different. (except for watching Disney movies in the room...we watched, Aristocats, Hercules, High School Musical 2 and 3, and Mulan!)

We wanted to do another character drawing class on Saturday since it was so fun on Friday, but we ended up taking a nap and then watching the University of Texas baseball game on the tv! I think we saw the movie at 6 before we went to dinner...but we didn't do any of the shows this time.

3 night cruises are short...but still fun!

I'm glad you had fun. It was really hot, but we Texas know a thing or two about heat. Though after this winter we had, I'm not sure any of us are acclimated.

Were the character drawing classes fun? That might be something to put on my list for next time.

It was convenient to get to the adult pool area. My DH went every night to the Cove Cafe to have a drink while I was putting DD to bed. He said it was the most relaxing time for him. After he came back, I liked to go walk the ship outside at night. So beautiful and peaceful. I love the way the ship was all lit up at night. I took this photo during one of my evening strolls. I just love the colors.

 

[MichelleVW]

The character drawing class was really fun!!! We had never done one before and really enjoyed it! We try to do something different every time!

Texas hasn't been that hot this summer yet...and I usually cruise in the winter so I guess that's why the heat got to me!!

 

[CruisePops]

Sunday
The ship pulled into Port Canaveral around 6:15 AM and there was a LOT of vibration as it backed into port and it seemed to take a lot longer than our other dockings. I got up and showered and we finished packing everything before waking DD up to go to breakfast. On the way down I picked up our photo CD. On the last day, you dine in the same dining room as the night before and you are attended by the same serving team. It was great to see Nue and the assistant server Agus one last time. We had a nice little breakfast before it was time to head to the main lobby to get off the ship. We headed off the ship and down to the lower level to pick up our luggage and then make our way through customs. The line was exceedingly long and it took us quite awhile to get through it. Before heading out of the secure area, I asked if we could head back up to the main terminal to use the penny machine (we had forgotten on the way in). I was worried we wouldn’t be able to, but they let me go up into the empty second floor where we had boarded and smash a couple of pennies.

We exited the building and asked at the desk for the bus to our resort. We boarded the bus and then had to wait for awhile for more people to trickle on board for the hour ride over to Disney World. Luckily, our resort was the first stop, Port Orleans Riverside. We went to check in but our room wasn’t ready yet so we checked our baggage with bell services after reorganizing a couple of things then we boarded the bus to Epcot to begin the second half of our vacation.

Some final thoughts on the cruise as a whole:


When I initially booked a three day cruise, I did it because I was worried about not liking it or being seasick or feeling claustrophobic surrounded by so many people in such a small space (even though the boat is HUGE). Then as I got more excited about going, I was worried that we wouldn’t fit everything into a three day. But you know, while we didn’t do EVERYTHING we did do a lot and I think for our first trip, it was just right. I did occasionally feel like I was surrounded by lots and lots of people and I did end up having quite a bit of vertigo (though the nausea wasn’t too bad - just a touch). And the vertigo is still affecting me every now and then and I’ve been off the ship for four days now. I don’t regret the decision we made for our first time out.

The ship is beautiful and the crew is amazing. Everyone really goes out of their way to make sure you have a great vacation and it meant a lot. I never encountered anyone who was surly or problematic. I sort of feel like I got asked if I wanted to buy a cooler full of water a bit more than was necessary, but overall, the crew was fabulous.

The food was very good. Not amazing, but really quite good. The dining rooms were better than the buffets, but a good buffet can be pretty tricky. I had some good food on the buffet. The poolside food was not as good. Room service food was very good. If we’d had a sea day, I would have suggested one meal being room service.

The entertainment was top notch. From the shows to the children’s programs, everything was super great with special Disney magic. The only thing that was lacking was the kid’s area on Castaway Cay, which was basically a giant sand pit. It was sort of depressing. There was a sprinkler area, but DD said that they didn’t let them go in there (I don’t know why). I wish we could have squeezed in a movie. They were showing Malificent on board and I would have really liked to see it.

Would I cruise again? Yes, but not for awhile (2-3 years maybe). And my dreams of doing something like a Trans-Atlantic or a Panama Canal cruise are completely out the window. I just can’t be on the boat that long. I would feel too cooped up and I worry about having vertigo again. Though, next time I’ll definitely get the patch. If we cruise again, I’d like to try a different ship (though probably stick with Disney because everything was really great) and maybe an itinerary that stops twice at Castaway Cay. We didn’t rebook on-board (even though you get a discount). At one point long before the cruise I had considered it, but Disney has recently raised prices quite a lot and cruising in the future will require quite an outlay of money.

Our room was lovely. We had a large porthole window with a seat. The window was practically floor to ceiling and it was lovely. It was very far forward and we did a lot of walking. In a way, it was annoying to walk so far all the time to get to our room. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I burned off every calorie of dessert I ate. But I would definitely book the same category of stateroom again.

Overall, I’m really glad we tried something different for our vacation and everyone had a really good time.

great trip report! just a warning on the patch, it can have some serious side effects. my wife applied one on a carnival cruise we took a few years back. she was fine during the cruise but the side effects hit hard after she took off the patch. the vertigo was unbearable accompanied with some severe migraines and dry mouth. she took almost 2 weeks to fully recover with lingering vertigo. she will never ever use that patch again.

 

[DisGirl819]

Thank you for your awesome trip report! We are first time cruisers heading for a three day on the Dream in July and I loved reading your perspective of it all. I'm worried that we'll feel super rushed, did you feel rushed at all?

 

[chaychayrn]

Is Sophia the first character on the dream?

 

[lulucornbread]

Great trip report! I love to see pictures of the ship at night too!

 

[jharman8803]

I'm so bummed that our Sailing Away Party was not on the upper deck! We went on 11/20/13 and it was a rainy day so our Sailing Away Party was in the main entrance. Just not the same thing!

 

[anricat]

Thank you for your awesome trip report! We are first time cruisers heading for a three day on the Dream in July and I loved reading your perspective of it all. I'm worried that we'll feel super rushed, did you feel rushed at all?

There are for sure things I would have liked to have done that we didn't do (notably, see "Malificent"). I knew we wouldn't get it all done so I just went in with the expectation that this is the first one and we would catch anything we missed on the next go around. And seeing a movie was a lower priority since we could see it at home later. Granted, we'll have to pay, but hey, it's okay.

So if you go in with a plan - look at the navigators from past cruises and get a general feel for how you want your days to flow, get on the ship as soon as you can in Port Canaveral, I think you'll feel fine. You'll only feel rushed if you feel like you HAVE to do it all!

 

[anricat]

Is Sophia the first character on the dream?

She is not. The characters we saw are:

Tiana
Cinderella
Ariel
Belle
Snow White
Rapunzel
Tinkerbell
Mickey
Minnie
Pluto
Daisy
Donald
Goofy
Stitch
Hook
Smee
Jake (of the Neverland Pirates)
Chip N' Dale

Mickey and the gang greeted in a variety of outfits (sailer/captain, beach, pirate and princess in the case of Minnie).

There may have been more that we didn't see. I know for sure that Sophia and also Anna and Elsa do not greet on the Dream.