We just got back from our first Dream cruise after doing 3 Wonder cruises over the past 4 years or so. We were the first cruise completely after Hurricane Irene, so we weren't real sure what was going to happen or where we were going to go either.
First things first, I guess. My DW and I were amazed at the size of the Dream. We didn't know if we would be able to really tell the size difference, but coming over the bridge to the port, it just pops out to you how massive it really is. And what a beautiful ship! It's lines are just so different than the other cruise ships in the port. We had come down on Thursday to beat the hurricane and stayed at the Shades of Green at WDW. After two days of driving to outlet malls and even to a Tervis Tumbler store, I was more than ready to get on board.
Our port arrival time was 1100-1130, and after reading the boards over the past month or so, we decided to split the difference and arrived at 1115. No lines upon pulling up to baggage drop off. I think we actually spent more time talking to the first two people you run in to than it took for the rest of the process. Anyway, dropped off DW and DGS with bags at the baggage drop and drove over to the garage. NOTE: you don't pay upon entrance anymore, but get a ticket and pay on the way out. Went up to the 3rd deck, had my choice of parking spots and went through two security checkpoints, one in the garage (ID only) and one after you walk across the elevated crosswalk into the terminal. Went into the terminal and my DW had already filled out the health form and was waiting for me at the CC line. Walked over, showed the CM my passport and got my picture taken. We had received boarding number 3, and as soon as I had my KTTW card, they called numbers 1-4 to board. From the time we pulled up to baggage drop to the time we entered the ship was about 30 minutes total. I don't know if this was an aberration, but it's never been smoother for us.
Lunch didn't start for a few minutes, so we went down to the Oceaneer's Lab to get our DGS his wrist band (that line had been very long in the terminal). They opened up at noon for registration and then again at 6 PM for the actual lab itself. Went to lunch at Cabana's and DGS was on the Aquaduck by 1245. Seemed like the lines were already starting to pick up, but he didn't seem to mind.
Our room (6512) was ready exactly at 1:30 and it was a pleasant surprise. We had booked an 8B and DCL upgraded us to an 8A. No reason ever given for the upgrade, but we're glad they did. This is a handicap accessible oceanview room (even though we didn't need that accessibility) all the way forward on the starboard side. It's at least 50% larger than the normal stateroom size and is laid out like a suite. Two huge portholes, bed to the right and couch to the left. The bunk pulls down from over the couch. No split bath, but it is huge. The shower was a "roll in" type and we didn't seem to have any issues with everybody getting ready in the morning. We liked it enough that we booked the same type room for our next cruise next Christmas.
We heard rumors right away that we would be going to CC, but that they would do the "at sea" day the day after Nassau to give the island crew one more day to work on the island. Since Disney doesn't normally give out any information until they're sure, we thought we had a good chance and they did it. Captain Henry told us on Tuesday that they were just waiting to hear from the divers around the island to make sure the ship could actually get in to the dock. I can't over emphasize how much work they must have done to get the island back to, as Captain Henry said, "show ready", but it looked great. Lots of brown foliage from the sea water spraying over it and some sand on the walkways that you normally wouldn't see, but other than that, it was still our Castaway Cay.
Now for some things that we noticed about the Dream:
My DW and I are not big ship pool people, so the obvious lack of room around them didn't affect us, but we can certainly see where it is a problem. They were packed and with all of the sun lotion and creams that people were using, they did have an odd color to them at times. I don't fully understand the communal hot tubs either. They always seemed to be filled. It looked like the best times to get on the Aquaduck was early morning/late evening. It seemed that during the late dining/late show time period, the pool deck was at it's quietest, so some food for thought there. At about 9:30, things really started to pick up.
Our dining rotation was ERAA and we had the early seating. Our server/asst servers were Miricea and Devon. Very nice people, but they seemed to be rushed, which was funny because it didn't seem like our food got out very quickly. Pascal was the head server and he made it a point to come by every night and talk to us. We've had other head servers that you had to track down in the dining room just to see them, so this was a nice touch. Miricea was very capable, always providing his recommendations for apps/entree, but the thing I (and our tablemates) noticed was the push to hear only "excellent" concerning our meals. He didn't like to hear "very good" and genuinely seemed nervous if we didn't completely praise the dinner. More on that later. Devon did a good job as the asst server, but sometimes looked overwhelmed. Overall, though, they did a great job. My only suggestion on the dining was that they could do a better job of getting the food to the tables a little hotter. It sometimes felt that we were up at Cabana's looking for a table while our food cooled off. The last night of the cruise was the only meal we all received that was truly hot. Not sure who was responsible for it, the servers or the kitchen. My bet would be on the kitchen. The last night, when Miricea asked how the dinner was, I told him okay, and I thought the poor guy was going to have a heart attack. Wanted to know if there was something else I wanted. I told him that with all the pressure to say everything was excellent, I just wanted to see the look on his face if he heard otherwise. I'm still not sure if he realizes I was kidding with him, but he did look panicked.
The shows were what you would expect on the DCL. Golden Mickeys has been updated a bit, Villains and Believe were good. It's hard sometimes to decide if you really like them or not, I think. The Villains show had some moments where I thought that the content might be a little serious (i.e. references to politics and the like), but everybody seemed to enjoy it. Believe seemed to start off slow and picked up from there.
DGS spent the majority of his time at the Lab and loved every minute of it. We had to drag him out of there every night just to get him to bed. Needless to say, the Lab is great and so much bigger than the Wonder.
Just a couple of things to pass on to everyone. I read the boards and it seems like there are always a lot of the same comments (which is fine), so I'll try to be objective on everything:
1) We loved the Dream, but it is different than the other two. Try not to compare it too much to Wonder or Magic, because it is truly a different ship. Give yourself at least a full day to figure out where everything is, and you have to walk the ship to do that. Remember, there are 1000 more people on it than you might be used to. Overall, it is one magnificent vessel and we booked a Christmas cruise for next year on it.
2) The elevators. We joked with several passengers that you didn't need to go to the gym to get exercise. Just get tired of waiting for an elevator and start using the stairs. The forward elevators do pop up in the adult only pool area, but I didn't see any real issues on our cruise. Families didn't loiter in the area and just walked through to the pool deck. The aft ones popping up in the middle of Cabana's did get your attention. We simply avoided using them when meals were being served and it wasn't a problem. Again, by exploring the ship, you can figure out quicker ways to get around.
3) I've seen lots of questions about smoking areas on the Dream. The smoke areas on Dream are as follows: Deck 13 starboard next to Currents Bar. Beware on this though. It is an open deck with no cover from rain or sun whatsoever, so it can get real hot (like our Nassau day) or real wet (like our at sea day). One of the CMs actually told us that they are looking into canopy options for the entire deck, particularly on the Fantasy. On the plus side, the views from Deck 13 are pretty great and it is the best place to watch the fireworks, since Decks 11 and 12 become completely packed. The other smoke areas are on Deck 4 starboard from 6 PM to 6 AM. A little strange since the jogging track and shuffleboard areas are also there, but it never seemed to be an issue. The last place is off the Meridian Bar, which is all the way aft between Palo and Remy, but I never actually went there.
4) I want to put a shout out to two bar servers in particular. If you do go by the Currents Bar, make sure you look up Ralston. We have had him on three different cruises now and were so happy to see him on Dream. He actually remembered us (which always amazes me considering the number of people they run into every day) and always took time to spend time talking with us. He's the best. Also, Alexander, who worked down on Deck 11 mostly this cruise. Again, three cruises and he always had time to ask us how we were and how our DGS was. Another hard working family man who truly gets what Disney is all about. Our many thanks to them for their work ethic and great personalities.
I think I covered everything I wanted to, but if there's any questions out there about something not here, let me know. Overall, I couldn't find any game stoppers on this cruise. The entire staff was great and we had a great time.
First things first, I guess. My DW and I were amazed at the size of the Dream. We didn't know if we would be able to really tell the size difference, but coming over the bridge to the port, it just pops out to you how massive it really is. And what a beautiful ship! It's lines are just so different than the other cruise ships in the port. We had come down on Thursday to beat the hurricane and stayed at the Shades of Green at WDW. After two days of driving to outlet malls and even to a Tervis Tumbler store, I was more than ready to get on board.
Our port arrival time was 1100-1130, and after reading the boards over the past month or so, we decided to split the difference and arrived at 1115. No lines upon pulling up to baggage drop off. I think we actually spent more time talking to the first two people you run in to than it took for the rest of the process. Anyway, dropped off DW and DGS with bags at the baggage drop and drove over to the garage. NOTE: you don't pay upon entrance anymore, but get a ticket and pay on the way out. Went up to the 3rd deck, had my choice of parking spots and went through two security checkpoints, one in the garage (ID only) and one after you walk across the elevated crosswalk into the terminal. Went into the terminal and my DW had already filled out the health form and was waiting for me at the CC line. Walked over, showed the CM my passport and got my picture taken. We had received boarding number 3, and as soon as I had my KTTW card, they called numbers 1-4 to board. From the time we pulled up to baggage drop to the time we entered the ship was about 30 minutes total. I don't know if this was an aberration, but it's never been smoother for us.
Lunch didn't start for a few minutes, so we went down to the Oceaneer's Lab to get our DGS his wrist band (that line had been very long in the terminal). They opened up at noon for registration and then again at 6 PM for the actual lab itself. Went to lunch at Cabana's and DGS was on the Aquaduck by 1245. Seemed like the lines were already starting to pick up, but he didn't seem to mind.
Our room (6512) was ready exactly at 1:30 and it was a pleasant surprise. We had booked an 8B and DCL upgraded us to an 8A. No reason ever given for the upgrade, but we're glad they did. This is a handicap accessible oceanview room (even though we didn't need that accessibility) all the way forward on the starboard side. It's at least 50% larger than the normal stateroom size and is laid out like a suite. Two huge portholes, bed to the right and couch to the left. The bunk pulls down from over the couch. No split bath, but it is huge. The shower was a "roll in" type and we didn't seem to have any issues with everybody getting ready in the morning. We liked it enough that we booked the same type room for our next cruise next Christmas.
We heard rumors right away that we would be going to CC, but that they would do the "at sea" day the day after Nassau to give the island crew one more day to work on the island. Since Disney doesn't normally give out any information until they're sure, we thought we had a good chance and they did it. Captain Henry told us on Tuesday that they were just waiting to hear from the divers around the island to make sure the ship could actually get in to the dock. I can't over emphasize how much work they must have done to get the island back to, as Captain Henry said, "show ready", but it looked great. Lots of brown foliage from the sea water spraying over it and some sand on the walkways that you normally wouldn't see, but other than that, it was still our Castaway Cay.
Now for some things that we noticed about the Dream:
My DW and I are not big ship pool people, so the obvious lack of room around them didn't affect us, but we can certainly see where it is a problem. They were packed and with all of the sun lotion and creams that people were using, they did have an odd color to them at times. I don't fully understand the communal hot tubs either. They always seemed to be filled. It looked like the best times to get on the Aquaduck was early morning/late evening. It seemed that during the late dining/late show time period, the pool deck was at it's quietest, so some food for thought there. At about 9:30, things really started to pick up.
Our dining rotation was ERAA and we had the early seating. Our server/asst servers were Miricea and Devon. Very nice people, but they seemed to be rushed, which was funny because it didn't seem like our food got out very quickly. Pascal was the head server and he made it a point to come by every night and talk to us. We've had other head servers that you had to track down in the dining room just to see them, so this was a nice touch. Miricea was very capable, always providing his recommendations for apps/entree, but the thing I (and our tablemates) noticed was the push to hear only "excellent" concerning our meals. He didn't like to hear "very good" and genuinely seemed nervous if we didn't completely praise the dinner. More on that later. Devon did a good job as the asst server, but sometimes looked overwhelmed. Overall, though, they did a great job. My only suggestion on the dining was that they could do a better job of getting the food to the tables a little hotter. It sometimes felt that we were up at Cabana's looking for a table while our food cooled off. The last night of the cruise was the only meal we all received that was truly hot. Not sure who was responsible for it, the servers or the kitchen. My bet would be on the kitchen. The last night, when Miricea asked how the dinner was, I told him okay, and I thought the poor guy was going to have a heart attack. Wanted to know if there was something else I wanted. I told him that with all the pressure to say everything was excellent, I just wanted to see the look on his face if he heard otherwise. I'm still not sure if he realizes I was kidding with him, but he did look panicked.
The shows were what you would expect on the DCL. Golden Mickeys has been updated a bit, Villains and Believe were good. It's hard sometimes to decide if you really like them or not, I think. The Villains show had some moments where I thought that the content might be a little serious (i.e. references to politics and the like), but everybody seemed to enjoy it. Believe seemed to start off slow and picked up from there.
DGS spent the majority of his time at the Lab and loved every minute of it. We had to drag him out of there every night just to get him to bed. Needless to say, the Lab is great and so much bigger than the Wonder.
Just a couple of things to pass on to everyone. I read the boards and it seems like there are always a lot of the same comments (which is fine), so I'll try to be objective on everything:
1) We loved the Dream, but it is different than the other two. Try not to compare it too much to Wonder or Magic, because it is truly a different ship. Give yourself at least a full day to figure out where everything is, and you have to walk the ship to do that. Remember, there are 1000 more people on it than you might be used to. Overall, it is one magnificent vessel and we booked a Christmas cruise for next year on it.
2) The elevators. We joked with several passengers that you didn't need to go to the gym to get exercise. Just get tired of waiting for an elevator and start using the stairs. The forward elevators do pop up in the adult only pool area, but I didn't see any real issues on our cruise. Families didn't loiter in the area and just walked through to the pool deck. The aft ones popping up in the middle of Cabana's did get your attention. We simply avoided using them when meals were being served and it wasn't a problem. Again, by exploring the ship, you can figure out quicker ways to get around.
3) I've seen lots of questions about smoking areas on the Dream. The smoke areas on Dream are as follows: Deck 13 starboard next to Currents Bar. Beware on this though. It is an open deck with no cover from rain or sun whatsoever, so it can get real hot (like our Nassau day) or real wet (like our at sea day). One of the CMs actually told us that they are looking into canopy options for the entire deck, particularly on the Fantasy. On the plus side, the views from Deck 13 are pretty great and it is the best place to watch the fireworks, since Decks 11 and 12 become completely packed. The other smoke areas are on Deck 4 starboard from 6 PM to 6 AM. A little strange since the jogging track and shuffleboard areas are also there, but it never seemed to be an issue. The last place is off the Meridian Bar, which is all the way aft between Palo and Remy, but I never actually went there.
4) I want to put a shout out to two bar servers in particular. If you do go by the Currents Bar, make sure you look up Ralston. We have had him on three different cruises now and were so happy to see him on Dream. He actually remembered us (which always amazes me considering the number of people they run into every day) and always took time to spend time talking with us. He's the best. Also, Alexander, who worked down on Deck 11 mostly this cruise. Again, three cruises and he always had time to ask us how we were and how our DGS was. Another hard working family man who truly gets what Disney is all about. Our many thanks to them for their work ethic and great personalities.
I think I covered everything I wanted to, but if there's any questions out there about something not here, let me know. Overall, I couldn't find any game stoppers on this cruise. The entire staff was great and we had a great time.
