Dream 3 night 6/12-6/15 TR

[tltay2005]

Just got of the Dream this morning from an amazing 3 night cruise. This is my first TR, so i hope I will do my best to type info and post pictures. It will not be any specific order, will just type what I remember. First the basics: It was myself, 47, DH 48 & DS who is just a few weeks shy of his 18th birthday. We booked this cruise to celebrate my son graduating high school with high honors.


I know some of my fellow DISers are strict rule followers, so I will give you a heads up when I post something where we broke the rules.

First cruise for all of us. Our PAT was 10:45, and we arrived just at that time. We parked in the garage on the 3rd floor, so we only had a short walk to the walkway over to the terminal. It only took about 15 minutes to get into the terminal. Once inside, only another 10 minutes to check in. We got boarding number 4, so we were on the ship by 11:40. Went over to GS, where there was no wait and turned in our items to be signed. We then headed to Cabana's, which was not crowded, got our food and a great seat by the window. After lunch we took time to explore the ship. Our room was ready right at 1:30.

The Dream is an amazing ship. Disney does a remarkable job keeping her clean and in tip top shape. Every day they washed her down and did touch up painting. Also, all the public areas were constantly being cleaned. This is going to sound strange, but I have never seen such amazing public restrooms. The decor was so neat and they were always spotless.


We watched the sail away party from deck 12 and then headed to to very front **rule breaker** which is adult only (just so you know, my son is a very mature young man, otherwise, we would not have done this. (Sorry if I upset some of you) There were other young kids (5-10 yrs old) and a crew member did asked the parents to take them out, but never said anything to us. We also watched the arrival to Nassau from here. The view up here is amazing but the wind was so strong!


Cabin 7678 was a family size room with the large porthole. Plenty of room for the three of us (except when trying to pass each other at the end of the bed). The split bath was so nice. Loved sitting in the large window watching the ocean go by or pulling into port. Our cabin host made sure we always had ice and the room was clean and beds ready at night.


We had main seating and really enjoyed all three restaurants. Our favorite was Animator's Palate.


We ate at Cabana's every day for breakfast and lunch. It was always very good, and you couldn't get a better view. Watching the seagulls while docked at CC stealing peoples food was a riot. The staff tried their best to keep them at bay, but if someone left their plate unattended, it was fair game.

Took this picture of one that landed right above us.

We saw the first show, The Golden Mickeys' and loved it. **Disclaimer, if you are a strict rule follower, please skip to next paragraph** My DS & DH went to the adult lounge, 687 Pub to watch the NHL playoff game while I went to the Villans show. I did not find that one near as good as the first show. We skipped the last show Believe, and in stead saw Avengers, Age of Ultron in the movie theater.

Will continue in another post.

 

[tltay2005]

We only went into Nassau for a short while. DS wanted a straw hat from the market, so that is all we did. Got back to the ship **rule followers, please skip this next section** made some drinks in our room and took to the adult pool. While DS and I enjoyed our drinks in the pool, our DS sat in the adult pool area loungers and looked at the ships parked next to us.
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Castaway Cay is so beautiful. We got off the ship early, around 8:45. Took the tram to the second stop and got great chairs with an umbrella and some shade from a palm tree. We were right between Pelican's Plunge beach and the snorkel beach. We all snorkeled, That was amazing. We live in Florida and visit the beach annually, but on CC you got to see a lot of fish that you don't see at our local beaches. Lunch at Cookie's too was good. No need to bring anything to drink or eat with you off the boat, it is much like the pool area on the boat. They also have water kegs set up closer to the beach.


Loved pirate night. We dressed up for dinner and the party and fireworks after.


We loved deck 4. Made a point to visit a few time each day. Beautiful views, plus shaded from the sun and never crowded.

 

[tltay2005]

For some reason the first pictures didn't attach. So here are the ones from the Nassau paragraph.


I can honestly say my only disappointment was not getting to hear the Dream's amazing horns at the ports. She only blew them once when we were almost out of PC and didn't blow them at all in Nassau. We did get to hear all of them when leaving CC. Crew member said the ports do not like it when she blows them. I think it's because the other cruise line's are jealous!

Speaking of other cruise line envy, when we were at bingo, which was a lot of fun, the CM said for us to look out over to the sides of the ship before the fireworks, that all the other ships in the area will hang close so they can watch. He called them the "cheap seats". Thought that was very cute. And yes, there were three other ships hanging close by. We also passed by some ships on the last night.


We got to meet the captain on the last night.


We did not go to our assigned restaurant on the last day. Since we had early dining, breakfast was at 6:45. Sorry, I was not getting up that early on my last day. We got up around 7, went to Cabana's around 8 and was off the ship by 9:15. We had put our luggage out the night before, so we had to pick that up and then go through customs. Went very quick and we were in our car and out of the garage by 9:45.

Had an amazing trip and booked another one for next April while on board.

 

[tltay2005]

Oh yeah, Santa was on our cruise!

 

[cheermom2four]

I'm booked on a 3 night but on the Magic for our very first cruise ever with just DH and I. Did you feel it was way too short of a cruise? I'm bummed as I saw there was a 4 day right after this one but we already have everything planned out (flights, night before hotel, transportation) and going with another couple so it would be too much of a hassle to change plans.

Oh yeah, Santa was on our cruise!

My dd would've LOVED to see him especially without the red suit as she is terrified of the dressed up santa at the mall

 

[tltay2005]

cheermom2four, if it is just you and your husband, I think 3 nights is plenty for your first trip. If our son would have been younger, and we had to adjust our schedule to his, I think it might have felt too short. But with him being older, we were up early and stayed up late, so we really did get to do most everything we wanted. Also, since we did not book any excursions at Nassau, we had that day to enjoy the ship. We did book a 4 night while on board for next year. The extra day will give us a day just to relax and do nothing, if that's what we wanted to do, or allow us time to book an excursion in Nassau if we chose to.

 

[cheermom2four]

Oh great! Yeah we are taking this to celebrate our anniversary and also see what its like to cruise and cruise on Disney since we are taking our two youngest in September 2016 on a 7 night.

 

[Jkpark]

Did you feel the ship was less crowded on Nassau day? I've heard on the shorter cruises a lot of people skip ports to enjoy the ship - wondering if you noticed a difference?

 

[tltay2005]

I would say yes, less crowded, vacant, no, at least on Deck 11. The kids pool was still pretty busy, but we never used it. The Aquaduck line was shorter, only waited about 10 minutes. The biggest difference was inside the ship, most public areas were almost empty. It was nice to walk around and look at everything when there was no one around.

 

[CrawfordMomof2]

GREAT trip report! You answered a lot of first timer cruise questions. We have our first cruise ( also a 3 night ) booked for May. Everyone keeps telling us 3 nights is too short, but we were nervous about our first cruise, so 3 night it is for us. It's refreshing to hear someone say that they had a great time on a 3 night. Also, thanks again for the stateroom pics.

 

[tltay2005]

Correction, DH and I enjoyed our mixed drinks in the pool. I did not allow my underage son to drink. Wow, glad I caught that.

 

[splah]

We were on the same cruise! We had a great time! Looks like we probably passed you at some point... (My daughter dressed up as a parrot for pirate night if you happened to see us)

 

[Notyourtypicaldisney]

Thank you for the trip report. The rule followers have a way of recking the fun. My wife and I last cruise had vodka and water with lime and she was starring at us the entire time. It didn't make us uncomfortable but she was totally uncomfortable. Lol. I agree the 4th deck is a great place to relax. I love to run on that deck when the ship is moving.

 

[Notyourtypicaldisney]

Meant to add we brought our own vodka and poured it into the Drink of the Day glasses. The horror. BTW we did a 3 day before. It is way too short but sometimes the quick getaway for Floridians is just what the doctor ordered.

 

[tltay2005]

I didn't want to offend those that are strick rule followers, but those that think that everyone who brings their own alcohol on board only consumes it in their room is fooling themselves.

 

[julie45823]

Thanks for your report! Sounds wonderful. Our first cruise is on the Dream in 34(ish) days!!!!