dsneygirl
<font color=blue>My little pirate is here<br><font
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2000
- Messages
- 5,480
First let me say we absolutely loved our trip on the Dream. The ship was immaculate and the service outstanding. Here are a few of my ramblings. Cast of characters included me, DH, DS, my parents (in their 60s) and my sister
Arrival/Embarkation: We didn't arrive until 12:30 and were in our room by 1:30. We waited about 10min at security/Xray and then there was no line up for checkin in the Castaway Club line We needed a manager to switch my DH and dad as they were listed on the wrong rooms this took about 5 min. We were supposed to be in group 28 and they were calling out up to 24 but because of the delay at check in the manager gave us goup 3. We had eaten a huge buffet breakfast so we didn't race to lunch and went up to Cabanas until about 2:30. There were no lines in there.
StateroomWe were in 7527 an inside room. I am so glad we didn't pay for any larger room. We were in it awake for less than an hour every day. The weather was amazing so we were always outside. This is a sideways cabin so it is perpendicular to the cabins in the corridors that run along the side of the ship. Room was immaculate and our stateroom host was amazing. I also loved the H2) toiletries. The bed was one of the most comfortable I have ever slept in. I also loved the duvet. There was tonnes of storage in drawers and under the bed (a huge improvement over the Wonder) This is a Forward room so the elevators dumped us out into the Adult only pool area which is a bit odd for traffic flow. But we tried to get through as quickly as possible with DS. I did see some kids loitering but not too many. I also saw a grandma with a sleeping baby in the stroller hanging out and I'm pretty sure that still counts as a kid.
Dining[/b]Our rotation was Animator's Palate, Enchanted Garden and then Royal Palace twice. I was really underwhelmed by AP. If you have seen Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot it is the exact same thing. And we have seen that many times (back to when it first opened at DCA) We barely paid attention. I thought the AP on the older ships was much more interesting. I also think the Nemo thing is over done on this ship. (Cabanas decor, the Splash pad etc) I would have like to have seen AP with more of the classic characters being interactive.
Enchanted Garden was everyone's favourite in terms of food and atmosphere. It is beautiful. Our server was Gabor from Hungary and he was AMAZING. We gave him a huge extra tip. He got all our special requests in the blink of an eye. Our assistant server was a little slow but nothing that disturbed our meal. It did make our server have to hustle even faster though. Poor guy was run off his feet some nights. Also on our EG night the 8-top beside us was not there so we had our server's total attention.
Royal Palace was beautiful but I found it really, really noisy, I had to almost yell at my DH across the table. Also Pirate Night seemed insane. The staff were absolutely run off their feet and kind of ruined the atmosphere. But we enjoyed the food. The second night at RP DH and I both ordered the beef med rare and it came out totally over cooked (well done) but we had already had 2 apps and were saving room for dessert so we ate some of it. I could have sent it back but couldn't be bothered. The only mediocre food we had all trip.
We did a sit down breakfast at Royal Palace on our CC morning and the food was great but the service was a little slow. I would have thought they would have moved a lot faster since most people want to get to CC. My sister and I ordered Mimosas but then the server said he would have to go up to the bar on Deck 11 to get the champagne. Um...ok why did you have it on the menu then? So we cancelled and just got juice, not really a big deal but weird. The other mornings we did Cabanas since DS was up early and hungry. I loved getting my breakfast and sitting outside.
Cabanas also had a really nice lunch. one day I only had items from the cold side, lots of bread and cheese! We never had a problem getting a table inside or outside at Cabanas and the staff were clearing tables very quickly. I really prefered Cabanas to Topsiders I think the flow works much better. I did over hear one woman say "why aren't people following the line? They just walk up wherever they want. Although like many other have commented it is a bit weird to get off the elevator and then have to go through Cabanas when the staff are having a meeting to get to the pool.
I found this cruise super casual in the dining rooms. Twice I just wore capris and a nice top. I don't have a problem with other people not too dressed up but I really disliked all the men in baseball hats. I think you could at least take off your hat in a nice restaurant. I only saw a few people in suits or fancy dresses all trip.
Bars The first night was the Oscars and the District Lounge had an Oscar Party which was a blast. It was fun to watch with other people laughing and cheering. Our favourite spot was Skyline. It was quiet and intimate and we really liked it. I loved the attention to detail how the music would change mid song to match the new "Skyline". Pink was pretty but tiny. Evolution is not our style. Only peeked my head in the sports bar but didn't stay.
Shows We only saw Villians Tonight and Believe (we had seen Golden Mickeys before on previous cruises) and really enjoyed them both. My DS even sat completely focused through the entire show. The storyline was a little weak in both shows but the performers were outstanding and the staging/costumes etc just gorgeous.
Nassau We just stayed on board. We did the Atlantis Aquarium last year so we were happy to stay put and enjoy the ship.
Castway Cay This was the highlight of the trip for all of us We finally left at 4:20 (all aboard was 4:30) because we all were enjoying it so much. We did Pelican Plunge 3 times. The first time we waited 7min as we were right at the bottom of the ladder. We went again much later in the day (after 3) and had no wait at all. Cookies Too was really busy right at noon but my parents went back over around 1 and had no problem getting a good spot. We had rafts for floating and my sister rented a bike. DS really enjoyed the splash pad (Spring a Leak) and he spent about 2 hours in the kids club on the island. We went to the adult beach for the lunch which was so much quieter. DH and I even snagged a hamock after lunch which we did not want to leave.
I've seen many people complaining about the chairs on CC. We took the tram all the way to Pelican Point then walked down almost to the roped off cabana area and got a whole bunch of chairs right in front. We were right by the Sand Bar and Cookies too, also very close to the washroom. We thought this was a great location. It was very quiet.
Pools/AquaDuck: Definitely the pools are on the small side but I didn't see what all the complaints were about. We were always up there early for breakast (7:30) so we never had an issue getting 3 or 4 chairs together. Will loved the Mickey slide and the Splash pad. He also watched Wall-E and Princess and the Frog from the pool on the big screen. I rode Aquaduck twice. The longest line up we saw was 40min (they have a sign) most times it was about 20. We waited less than 15 during the day and then I rode it again at the Pirate Party at 11pm with virtually no wait. We could not get my DS to ride.
I saw several young kids in swim diapers in the pools, the Rec Staff had to come over and tell them to get out. There was one instance with a "fouling" in the Splash Zone and it was closed for about an hour.
We never had an issue getting chairs at the adult pool. If there were none pool side there were lots up top on Deck 12 in full sun.
Kids Club: My DS loved the club. He never paged us to pick him up but he was usually there for about 90min at the most. A couple times he was doing an activity when I picked him up. Other times he was just playing in the Toy Story room. He did a baking activity (they made cookies) and he liked the computer lab inside the sub. When the club was busy though I definitely think some kids had a hard time getting involved, it seemed like organized chaos most times but the staff to kid ratio is great. He went to the kids club on CC for about an hour and when we came to pick him up he and another kid were just playing a the water table with a counsellor enjoying some quiet time.
Characters: We never waited more than a few minutes in line. Several times we stumbled upon characters with little to no line up. The only huge line was for the Princess', oh my lord I was glad I had a son at that point. It stretched all the way back toward AP.
Pirate Night: We missed the early show but got up on deck in time for Fireworks, they were awesome. There were actually quite a few people on the dancefloor for Club Pirate until a brief rain shower scared them away.
Other highlights: My DS and I won "Family Fusion" which was like Family Feud and his crab won the crab race on Castaway Cay. He even got a small trophy delivered to our cabin.
-the onboard Detective agency game, this is kind of hard to explain but there is interactive artwork and it gives you clues to solve a mystery. My DS loved it and did 3 different games
-the mini golf, it was pretty simple but again my DS loved it, I think we played 10x ( I lost count)
-all the interactive art was so cool
Random thoughts
-Even though the ship was completely full I didn't feel like it was. One night we saw the 4 o clock show and during the 6 o clock show were roamed the shops with no one else around. The busies times were just before dinner/show time in the Atrium, elevators but I found that time short lived. There was never a problem finding a nice spot to sit or hang out
-there is so much we never got to do, we only discovered the art gallery on the last night and only saw part of Gnomeo and Juliet. I wanted to see other movies on Funnelvision.
-every crew member I encountered (housekeeping, in the shops, at the front desk) was outstanding and went above and beyond.
-also all the other guests were on their best behaviour, I didn't experience any of the shenanigans others had posted, everyone seemed to be having a great time
-little to no wait at the Guest Services, only time I saw a line up was the last night when people were putting their tips on their room account
-Andy's room in the Oceaneer's Lab was very cool but already all the bits & pieces (Potato head, Monkeys) were already looking beat up, I can't imagine what they will look like in another 6 months
We did not want to leave and re-booked on board for Feb 26th, 2012.
I would be happy to answer any questions.
Arrival/Embarkation: We didn't arrive until 12:30 and were in our room by 1:30. We waited about 10min at security/Xray and then there was no line up for checkin in the Castaway Club line We needed a manager to switch my DH and dad as they were listed on the wrong rooms this took about 5 min. We were supposed to be in group 28 and they were calling out up to 24 but because of the delay at check in the manager gave us goup 3. We had eaten a huge buffet breakfast so we didn't race to lunch and went up to Cabanas until about 2:30. There were no lines in there.
StateroomWe were in 7527 an inside room. I am so glad we didn't pay for any larger room. We were in it awake for less than an hour every day. The weather was amazing so we were always outside. This is a sideways cabin so it is perpendicular to the cabins in the corridors that run along the side of the ship. Room was immaculate and our stateroom host was amazing. I also loved the H2) toiletries. The bed was one of the most comfortable I have ever slept in. I also loved the duvet. There was tonnes of storage in drawers and under the bed (a huge improvement over the Wonder) This is a Forward room so the elevators dumped us out into the Adult only pool area which is a bit odd for traffic flow. But we tried to get through as quickly as possible with DS. I did see some kids loitering but not too many. I also saw a grandma with a sleeping baby in the stroller hanging out and I'm pretty sure that still counts as a kid.
Dining[/b]Our rotation was Animator's Palate, Enchanted Garden and then Royal Palace twice. I was really underwhelmed by AP. If you have seen Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot it is the exact same thing. And we have seen that many times (back to when it first opened at DCA) We barely paid attention. I thought the AP on the older ships was much more interesting. I also think the Nemo thing is over done on this ship. (Cabanas decor, the Splash pad etc) I would have like to have seen AP with more of the classic characters being interactive.
Enchanted Garden was everyone's favourite in terms of food and atmosphere. It is beautiful. Our server was Gabor from Hungary and he was AMAZING. We gave him a huge extra tip. He got all our special requests in the blink of an eye. Our assistant server was a little slow but nothing that disturbed our meal. It did make our server have to hustle even faster though. Poor guy was run off his feet some nights. Also on our EG night the 8-top beside us was not there so we had our server's total attention.
Royal Palace was beautiful but I found it really, really noisy, I had to almost yell at my DH across the table. Also Pirate Night seemed insane. The staff were absolutely run off their feet and kind of ruined the atmosphere. But we enjoyed the food. The second night at RP DH and I both ordered the beef med rare and it came out totally over cooked (well done) but we had already had 2 apps and were saving room for dessert so we ate some of it. I could have sent it back but couldn't be bothered. The only mediocre food we had all trip.
We did a sit down breakfast at Royal Palace on our CC morning and the food was great but the service was a little slow. I would have thought they would have moved a lot faster since most people want to get to CC. My sister and I ordered Mimosas but then the server said he would have to go up to the bar on Deck 11 to get the champagne. Um...ok why did you have it on the menu then? So we cancelled and just got juice, not really a big deal but weird. The other mornings we did Cabanas since DS was up early and hungry. I loved getting my breakfast and sitting outside.
Cabanas also had a really nice lunch. one day I only had items from the cold side, lots of bread and cheese! We never had a problem getting a table inside or outside at Cabanas and the staff were clearing tables very quickly. I really prefered Cabanas to Topsiders I think the flow works much better. I did over hear one woman say "why aren't people following the line? They just walk up wherever they want. Although like many other have commented it is a bit weird to get off the elevator and then have to go through Cabanas when the staff are having a meeting to get to the pool.
I found this cruise super casual in the dining rooms. Twice I just wore capris and a nice top. I don't have a problem with other people not too dressed up but I really disliked all the men in baseball hats. I think you could at least take off your hat in a nice restaurant. I only saw a few people in suits or fancy dresses all trip.
Bars The first night was the Oscars and the District Lounge had an Oscar Party which was a blast. It was fun to watch with other people laughing and cheering. Our favourite spot was Skyline. It was quiet and intimate and we really liked it. I loved the attention to detail how the music would change mid song to match the new "Skyline". Pink was pretty but tiny. Evolution is not our style. Only peeked my head in the sports bar but didn't stay.
Shows We only saw Villians Tonight and Believe (we had seen Golden Mickeys before on previous cruises) and really enjoyed them both. My DS even sat completely focused through the entire show. The storyline was a little weak in both shows but the performers were outstanding and the staging/costumes etc just gorgeous.
Nassau We just stayed on board. We did the Atlantis Aquarium last year so we were happy to stay put and enjoy the ship.
Castway Cay This was the highlight of the trip for all of us We finally left at 4:20 (all aboard was 4:30) because we all were enjoying it so much. We did Pelican Plunge 3 times. The first time we waited 7min as we were right at the bottom of the ladder. We went again much later in the day (after 3) and had no wait at all. Cookies Too was really busy right at noon but my parents went back over around 1 and had no problem getting a good spot. We had rafts for floating and my sister rented a bike. DS really enjoyed the splash pad (Spring a Leak) and he spent about 2 hours in the kids club on the island. We went to the adult beach for the lunch which was so much quieter. DH and I even snagged a hamock after lunch which we did not want to leave.
I've seen many people complaining about the chairs on CC. We took the tram all the way to Pelican Point then walked down almost to the roped off cabana area and got a whole bunch of chairs right in front. We were right by the Sand Bar and Cookies too, also very close to the washroom. We thought this was a great location. It was very quiet.
Pools/AquaDuck: Definitely the pools are on the small side but I didn't see what all the complaints were about. We were always up there early for breakast (7:30) so we never had an issue getting 3 or 4 chairs together. Will loved the Mickey slide and the Splash pad. He also watched Wall-E and Princess and the Frog from the pool on the big screen. I rode Aquaduck twice. The longest line up we saw was 40min (they have a sign) most times it was about 20. We waited less than 15 during the day and then I rode it again at the Pirate Party at 11pm with virtually no wait. We could not get my DS to ride.
I saw several young kids in swim diapers in the pools, the Rec Staff had to come over and tell them to get out. There was one instance with a "fouling" in the Splash Zone and it was closed for about an hour.
We never had an issue getting chairs at the adult pool. If there were none pool side there were lots up top on Deck 12 in full sun.
Kids Club: My DS loved the club. He never paged us to pick him up but he was usually there for about 90min at the most. A couple times he was doing an activity when I picked him up. Other times he was just playing in the Toy Story room. He did a baking activity (they made cookies) and he liked the computer lab inside the sub. When the club was busy though I definitely think some kids had a hard time getting involved, it seemed like organized chaos most times but the staff to kid ratio is great. He went to the kids club on CC for about an hour and when we came to pick him up he and another kid were just playing a the water table with a counsellor enjoying some quiet time.
Characters: We never waited more than a few minutes in line. Several times we stumbled upon characters with little to no line up. The only huge line was for the Princess', oh my lord I was glad I had a son at that point. It stretched all the way back toward AP.
Pirate Night: We missed the early show but got up on deck in time for Fireworks, they were awesome. There were actually quite a few people on the dancefloor for Club Pirate until a brief rain shower scared them away.
Other highlights: My DS and I won "Family Fusion" which was like Family Feud and his crab won the crab race on Castaway Cay. He even got a small trophy delivered to our cabin.
-the onboard Detective agency game, this is kind of hard to explain but there is interactive artwork and it gives you clues to solve a mystery. My DS loved it and did 3 different games
-the mini golf, it was pretty simple but again my DS loved it, I think we played 10x ( I lost count)
-all the interactive art was so cool
Random thoughts
-Even though the ship was completely full I didn't feel like it was. One night we saw the 4 o clock show and during the 6 o clock show were roamed the shops with no one else around. The busies times were just before dinner/show time in the Atrium, elevators but I found that time short lived. There was never a problem finding a nice spot to sit or hang out
-there is so much we never got to do, we only discovered the art gallery on the last night and only saw part of Gnomeo and Juliet. I wanted to see other movies on Funnelvision.
-every crew member I encountered (housekeeping, in the shops, at the front desk) was outstanding and went above and beyond.
-also all the other guests were on their best behaviour, I didn't experience any of the shenanigans others had posted, everyone seemed to be having a great time
-little to no wait at the Guest Services, only time I saw a line up was the last night when people were putting their tips on their room account
-Andy's room in the Oceaneer's Lab was very cool but already all the bits & pieces (Potato head, Monkeys) were already looking beat up, I can't imagine what they will look like in another 6 months
We did not want to leave and re-booked on board for Feb 26th, 2012.
I would be happy to answer any questions.
