Disney Dream August 7, 2011

[jlawall]

We had a whopper of a storm here at Universal last night. I hope that was Emily and she's gone!

 

[DisneyJenn23]

We had a whopper of a storm here at Universal last night. I hope that was Emily and she's gone!

Weather is so interesting to me. I live in Kissimmee about 20 mins from Universal and we have not had any storms since Wednesday. The weather has been great. I sure hope this weather stays for our whole cruise!!

 

[autimom]

I am on the 12th cruise with you along with this cruise, and we don't have trip insurance either...we are just going to play it however it goes at this point...we have been down here in Disney a week, and things have been great for us, so more days at the parks if needed would be okay with us... I hope not, but I'm prepared for whatever comes our way.... I just hope we get to see CC at least once out of our 3 stops!!

Thanks for the response, see you real soon!

 

[simbasmom2]

Finally in the airport!!!

 

[Doppler]

In the car going to the port

 

[autimom]

Please post whether they are enforcing port arrival times or not, thanks.

 

[msabol01]

We had a whopper of a storm here at Universal last night. I hope that was Emily and she's gone!

We were watching the Dream depart on the port webcam today and realized you were on it! Hope you have a great trip and look forward to hearing about your adventure!

Emma and Lisa S.

 

[Doppler]

Sad cruise is over :-(

 

[Weedy]

Can you post what time the port opened and how the boarding went?

 

[BelleBway]

Hello from the GF! It was great meeting some of you on theth cruise, and I hope everyone had as amazing a time as I had with my nieces. It was a lot of fun doing the FE and decorating our door.

I am so glad that I didn't change parasailing to the 2nd CC day... I almost did that, but it would have been canceled b/c of weather. We loved the cabana- and that also worked out that I could only get it for the 1st CC day. We got a backstage tour after the matinee on the 2nd CC day because the girls had asked the stage mgr a bunch of questions after the golden mickeys, so we wouldn't even have been able to stay long at CC even if the weather had been better.

I will eventually have a long trip report and photos posted on my website... PM for the link if you are interested.

The only negatives so far...
- We were supposed to have a cab from CI&S to the port but it never showed up; fortunately, the hotel squeezed us in a shuttle (and didn't charge us!) We had boarding #3 but by the time we got checked in, they were already on at least #21
- Inconsistent policy of whether cameras are allowed on the Aquaduck (I have a waterproof case with a neck strap... no one said a word when I rode with it on the Nassau day, but suddenly 2 days later it was verboten)
- No light in the bathroom at the GF so we can't really use the toilet or shower. We reported it 6 hrs ago and it hasn't been fixed. I expect more from a hotel, esp. when I am paying this much money. *taps foot and waits*

But if those are the worst things, it's a pretty damn good vacation.

 

[artifex85]

Thanks everyone for an amazing vacation! This was my fiancee's first cruise ever, and she had a blast! This was also our first time doing the FE exchange and we had a ton of fun doing it- thanks for all the awesome and thoughtful gifts!

 

[jlawall]

We were watching the Dream depart on the port webcam today and realized you were on it! Hope you have a great trip and look forward to hearing about your adventure!

Emma and Lisa S.

It was a Dream!!

 

[jlawall]

Thanks everyone for an amazing vacation! This was my fiancee's first cruise ever, and she had a blast! This was also our first time doing the FE exchange and we had a ton of fun doing it- thanks for all the awesome and thoughtful gifts!

FE gifts were amazing!! Thx to all for your thoughtfulness and generousity.....loved especially the door magnets, it was great decorating the doors with them!!!

 

[jlawall]

Can you post what time the port opened and how the boarding went?

It was strict regarding arrival times....noone could get in before 11 am. (I'm not sure about those on DCL transfers.) Check in went very smoothly, we boarded by 12:15pm and were able to get any and all ressies that we wanted in the spa, Palo, tastings, etc.

 

[simbasmom2]

Thanks for the FE gifts! The entire cruise was just awesome. We boarded so easily. We had an arrival time of 12_12:30 got there around 12:10 and boarded in about 10 minutes. I couldn't even tell the ship had 50% more people! We booked the Fantasy in April!! Heading home today...back to reality.

 

[kk92476]

"Best vacation ever!!!!" is what my daughter says. DH and I agree! We had an absolutely perfect week. Highlights were parasailing in Castaway Cay (looked down to see a shark below us!!!), relaxing in a hammok and bike riding around CC, eating at Palo, all of the wonderful meals, sitting in the Goofy Pool watching movies, DD getting chosen to be one of the Dwarfs in The Golden Mickeys, singing Karaoke....oh too many to name!

We loved all of the FE gifts--special thanks to those who gave special birthday treats to DD. She LOVED the attention (especially Faith's beautiful bday ribbon--she wore that around for 2 days until it literally fell apart!). We brought the Saratoga chips over to Atlantis with us to nibble at lunch (probably saved us ($15 on pool snacks!). We loved walking around the ship like little elves delivering our goodies too!

Hope we can go back soon!!!

 

[Mackie Mouse]

I'm sorry that our early arrival at WDW prevented me from saying hi to a few last-minute additions to the group! We had an amazing vacation and an absolutely wonderful cruise, and it was lovely seeing some of you around. Our somewhat rainy second CC day was actually my favorite...we waited until the rain had reduced to a drizzle around 10:30 in the morning and then hooped off onto the island anyway (artifex's idea , which worked out terrifically! The island was empty, we were in the ocean and therefore wet anyway, and the slides at Pelican Plunge were empty! We biked over to Serenity Bay after having our fill there, and after falling asleep in one of the hammocks for an hour, the sun was out around lunchtime. Ahhhh.

Many, many thanks for all the great FE gifts! We enjoyed a few of the snacks on the plane ride home, and can't believe how creative some of you got!

Now off to prepare for our next adventure...we booked cruise #3 to Alaska on the Wonder while on board! We'll be traveling during 4th of July week, which conveniently also happens to include my birthday Anyone up for joining us..?

 

[Doppler]

I am so sad i didnt get to the meet in time I saw a bunch of people going down stairs from currents into the adult area the first day

 

[ICEMANPAD]

Well not sure whether we saw any of the people on this thread, but if you saw someone about 6'8" tall, that was me...

As to boarding, it really was based on whether you were concierge, platinum, castaway club or first timer...

There is a separate check-in line for concierge and platinum and they both get to board first, in that order...

Thus, we got to drop-off about 10:55 (ok it was our third lap), but we received a #1 boarding group as platinum...now, we missed the separate line and were in the regular Castaway Club line and the folks nearby who were first timers received a #20 at the same time we got the #1....

Thus, I think the repeat customers are getting to board first, but I also note that we boarded at 11:30 and that Disney is trying to get people on faster and more spread out to avoid the absolute chaos that used to exist at 12 noon.

Chuck

 

[kk92476]

We were silver club and got #2 passes. Though of course they were already calling for group 25. By that time!