Disney Dream Inaugural Cruise 1/26/2011 Part 2

[Enna]

Welcome home, everyone! Sorry we didn't get to meet as many of you as we had hoped. We were just glad that we didn't miss the boat!

 

[DCLShel]

We had an awesome time! Joining DisBoards for this cruise was my best decision ever! I was amazed how friendly everyone was on the boards. This was nothing compared to how nice everyone was in person. We
made some amazing friends (especially at Table #82- Lin, Andy, Beth, Mary Beth & Brandon and our UK buds -Joa & Mick). A special thanks to Carol, Doug, Denise & Steve -you guys really saved us from a long, wet trip back to SSR!

Thank you to all who went above & beyond (BBQ, lanyards, FE, stateroom tour, etc) to make this an extra special trip! We made new friends that I hope to keep for years!

 

[cquick]

Wow! We had a wonderful time on the Magical Maiden Dream Voyage!

Yes, there were glitches, but all in all I thought the food was great, the service adequate....I know it will improve.....I loved the decor of the whole ship (except for the weird scary black hallway to Evolution).

Our stateroom was wonderful. We've never been midship before...great!

AND of course all our Disboard friends! THAT really made the cruise. It is so much more fun to see people you know around each corner!

The highlight of Patrick's cruise was when the Melody Makers had him play the maraca as the 3rd person in the band! That's all he has talked about!

Anyway, can't wait to see everyone again!

Connie

 

[cquick]

Thanks to everyone who helped make the cruise special and to those who made the extra effort to get the FE gifts to the 12th floor.
For anyone ever faced with that, the concierge lounge is staffed 6:30 am-10pm and they said to knock on the door and they will deliver the gifts to 11 and 12.

I didn't know this! Sorry to those who didn't get airfresheners! But, I'll bet the concierge rooms are already air freshened!

 

[cquick]

...bet there is 200 people in line to get on already!

Garage is open!

I heard there were people waiting to board the inaugural voyage at 4am!

 

[DisneyPinDiva]

Wow! We had a wonderful time on the Magical Maiden Dream Voyage!

Yes, there were glitches, but all in all I thought the food was great, the service adequate....I know it will improve.....I loved the decor of the whole ship (except for the weird scary black hallway to Evolution).

Our stateroom was wonderful. We've never been midship before...great!

AND of course all our Disboard friends! THAT really made the cruise. It is so much more fun to see people you know around each corner!

The highlight of Patrick's cruise was when the Melody Makers had him play the maraca as the 3rd person in the band! That's all he has talked about!

Anyway, can't wait to see everyone again!

Connie

Connie.. that weird scary black hallway near Evolution was the "Bathroom Experience"! Seriously... that's what it said on the sign near the elevators.. I'll post the pic... If you actually realized it was bathrooms.... they were pretty weird circular stalls with mirrors on the ceiling...

 

[DisneyPinDiva]

Thank you to everyone for the fabulous FE gifts. So much creativity and imagination!! SO glad I brought an empty suitcase!

Now it's back to unpacking, laundry and sorting out all that STUFF!

Next up: THE SUPER BOWL!!

GO STEELERS!

Then I can start packing for our west coast, Alaska adventure!

 

[Scott H]

One day left here in florida at WDW and then homeward bound tomorrow,

Ship was big for sure , cruise too short, missed running into and chatting with folks, all in all a very nice ship,

I wonder how DCL will do with their pricing as the newness wears off. We will see

Thanks to one and all for making this a great cruise.

 

[cseca]

I guess I'm not surprised...the maiden voyage merchandise is already on eBay....including the Dooney & Bourke Disney Dream purses....for double the price.

HAHA!!
That whole D&B purse experience was a trip!
I'm not surprised it was on ebay already since the people who lined up since 1:30pm bought arms full of purses... it was insanity!

Thanks to everyone for the BBQ, lanyards, FPs, and everything.
Sorry we didn't make it to any of the get togethers on the boat but DD decided that naptime was right at that time... oy!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[DCLShel]

Connie.. that weird scary black hallway near Evolution was the "Bathroom Experience"! Seriously... that's what it said on the sign near the elevators.. I'll post the pic... If you actually realized it was bathrooms.... they were pretty weird circular stalls with mirrors on the ceiling...

I thought the circular stalls were cool - didn't notice the mirrors on the ceiling Kinda glad I didn't!

 

[cquick]

Connie.. that weird scary black hallway near Evolution was the "Bathroom Experience"! Seriously... that's what it said on the sign near the elevators.. I'll post the pic... If you actually realized it was bathrooms.... they were pretty weird circular stalls with mirrors on the ceiling...

Oh, yeah! I did the visit the bathrooms there, and they are pretty cool! Guess I just don't like the black hallway. I'll get used to it.....after all, it DOES make an impression!

 

[GotDrums]

You know what part made this trip special was meeting all the folks from onboard.
To my new friend Reed and meeting his young son (a drummer in the making).
To running into that crazy Peter as well as Scott and their wonderful mates as well as Linda and all the folks who opened their suites and rooms to us. As well as our table mates who were non-board folks.
Also bats Joa and Mick our new friends from the UK for the lovely gift. (We love you guys as well).
Meet so many people from the boards Im glad we wore the lanyards in order to get all the names right.
Really wonderful bunch of folks here on the boards.
And even though we all just met to me its just the start of a wonderful cruise experience with Disney.
First cruise on Disney for sure will not be the last.
Good friends are hard to come by even though everyone is out enjoying their individual cruise experience as well
The most bang for my buck was really the all day Rainforest pass for only 16.00 apiece. That included sitting in a hot tub looking out on the ocean.
The Senses spa and staff were very good.
The only opportunity here was that a lot of used towels and robes accumulated in the main walk way area between all the different shower (very literally cool effects in the individual showers).
But I could see if they took some of the towels or robes away someone who was actually using one would have gotten angry.
The food on this cruise put to shame anything I have ever gotten on RC or Carnival and that includes the Maiden voyage of the Oasis which we were on.
The dining room staff also were the very best Andre, Matteo, and Dion great bunch of folks the best dining room staff we have had on any cruise.
More to come...

 

[AndyR]

We got back home to California late last night.

I'll post up a report & pics/video collection (probably on SmugMug & Youtube) later as I get time to work on the material.

A quick summary:

Got to the port before the gates opened. Must have been 500 people ahead of us. I know the person who was #3 in line was there at 5:30 am. He got an upgrade to Concierge. We got boarding group 11/12.

Boarding process was normal, rooms ready earlier than usual.

Sailaway was fun, but the line of sight views to the stage are currently an issue that 'Da Management' are aware of.

Cabanas - major hit - great selection and quality

Nassau - enough said - move along.

Sea Day - horn battle with the Magic was one sided

CC - a spectacular day

Doing 'The Duck' is great.

Debark - Disney has its act together - unfortunately the Customs folks have not seen it fit to add the extra staff they need to handle the Dream, so they held the line back numerous times.

A CM said there were only 3100 onboard.

Andy

 

[cquick]

yes, the luggage in the luggage hall is SO easy to find! I love the way Disney organizes it!

We realized how silly we were to rush straight in line to get off the ship, especially since we had a car parked at the port. Of course we wanted to get out of our room as early as possible so the room stewards could do their jobs. But we should have had a leisurely breakfast and just waited on deck for the people to get off who had flights to meet. We'll learn! Maybe.......my hubbie likes to just get off as soon as possible, but even he admitted the line took longer than he expected. and that takes a lot for him to admit!

 

[Bullseyebaby]

Had a great time of the cruise! Ship was beautiful. Can't believe there were so many people, yet it seemed at times we were some of the only people on board. Loved the District & the Skyline bar. Thank you to those who helped make it an awesome cruise... the lanyards & the fast passes, new friends & the good times. Can't wait to go back. (Alaska first, then maybe another dream cruise)!

~janie

 

[nikicares]

Back home in Kansas - welcome home to Sever Winter Warnings of Ice and up to 16 inches of snow!

Wanted to take a minute to send BIG THANKS to everyone who made this Maiden Voyage spectacular! Lanyards, AquaDuck Fastpass, and all the FE's that made it up to our FE in Concierges!

We loved the ship, and the service, daughter loved the Vibe, we didnt see her much.

We are booked for the April 21, 2012 on the Fantasy... in hopes to skip the Merchandise mess for Inagural things for people to post on Ebay (very sad to me) We did not get the one item we wanted, a Maiden Voyage jacket because of the "hoarders"... but I hope that these people know about Karma. And I will not let them upset me, because this was an amazing cruise and well worth the memories we have!

Wishing everyone safe trips home. And hope to see you all again soon!

 

[bats]

Evening fellow maiden voyages!!!

Well, Mick and I got back to London Gatwick this morning at around 9am and by the time we'd picked the car up, we were home by 11am.

I slept for the entire flight home and have managed to sleep for most of the day at home too ... the sore throat I got on Thursday just seemed to get worse over the cruise.

Thank you to everyone for the fabulous FE gifts ... can't believe that some of you got things for everyone .. I barely managed to get the things I did in my suitcase! Next time I'll do smaller packages perhaps!

To echo others, thank you to ....

Linda for the Stateroom Tour, Navigator and AquaDuck FP .... the stateroom tour was by far the highlight for me and when i spoke to non Dis'ers about it, they were very envious.

Scott and Lynn for the BBQ at OKW ... great to meet people at last, thank you all so much for welcoming us and glad you all enjoyed the British sweets!

To Ken for the fantastic lanyards .... I swapped one of my spares with a CM who had one of the Benefit Cruise lanyards on ... he was so pleased with his Dis one!!

To Sarah for organsing the FE .. question though ... why did you not put yourself on it!? I had a special present for you but didn't know where you were!

Thanks also to the wonderful people we met and hope to stay in contact with ... from Illinois to New Zealand ... you are fabulous people!

Lastly, thanks to the Dis'er who gave us their spare Boarding Card Number 1 pass!!! Thank you so much!

Haven't even started to unpack yet ... it can wait!

 

[mrp4352]

Hi all! WOW! what an experience! Thanks for sharing it! So - who all is going to do a trip report?

I also wanted to offer my apologies on the DVC picture meet - I had chosen Disney transportation and found out Tuesday night they weren't picking up until 12:30 at SSR - and by the time we boarded and stopped at CBR to pick up some more passengers we didn't make it to port until 2. Then DCLShel and I were in lucky group 36! Which we learned is the last boarding group number they give out... I finally made it on the Dream around 2:40.

And now, sadly, back to the real work. More later!

 

[collectoraholic]

Greetings fellow MVers! Hope you all had a wonderful time.

Just curious if any of you have a great picture of Donald when he rode on the AquaDuck or even a video clip that I could have a copy of. I'd truly appreciate it, as we were eating brunch in Palo @ that time, so we missed it. My oldest daughter saw it, but she had nothing on her to take pics/vid with.

& To all those that provided the lanyards and custom name-tags, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! We truly appreciated them and your kindness in providing them for so many of us is simply wonderful. Thanks again!

 

[GotDrums]

Evening fellow maiden voyages!!!

Well, Mick and I got back to London Gatwick this morning at around 9am and by the time we'd picked the car up, we were home by 11am.

I slept for the entire flight home and have managed to sleep for most of the day at home too ... the sore throat I got on Thursday just seemed to get worse over the cruise.

Thank you to everyone for the fabulous FE gifts ... can't believe that some of you got things for everyone .. I barely managed to get the things I did in my suitcase! Next time I'll do smaller packages perhaps!

To echo others, thank you to ....

Linda for the Stateroom Tour, Navigator and AquaDuck FP .... the stateroom tour was by far the highlight for me and when i spoke to non Dis'ers about it, they were very envious.

Scott and Lynn for the BBQ at OKW ... great to meet people at last, thank you all so much for welcoming us and glad you all enjoyed the British sweets!

To Ken for the fantastic lanyards .... I swapped one of my spares with a CM who had one of the Benefit Cruise lanyards on ... he was so pleased with his Dis one!!

To Sarah for organsing the FE .. question though ... why did you not put yourself on it!? I had a special present for you but didn't know where you were!

Thanks also to the wonderful people we met and hope to stay in contact with ... from Illinois to New Zealand ... you are fabulous people!

Lastly, thanks to the Dis'er who gave us their spare Boarding Card Number 1 pass!!! Thank you so much!

Haven't even started to unpack yet ... it can wait!

Ditto to what bats said about the thank you's and again thanks to bats for the wonderful candy
Tim and Donna 7048