Dream 7 Day Euro trip

[Dive Bar Casanova]

We booked this DCL cruise when it first appeared quite some time ago.
Minuses first, then plusses. Consensus of ours and the two other groups and other friends we were sailing with. I'll post pictures later.
Would we do this cruise again?: YES! Remember that as you read below:

DCL tends to offer food fare from the region we're sailing in.

That's' lots of flavorless meat and potatoes and barely cooked bacon and runny eggs like you may find in the British Isles. Fish n Chips always soggy.
Everyone was saying they're swinging by Taco Bell when they get home.
Yep, most everything was that bland and tasteless.

One night we were served dry Yorkshire pudding with no traditional gravy or Au Jus. It had the Brits in our group scratching their heads. A hard cube of butter and a mango yogurt to soak it in.

Steaks and Prime Rib were really tough cuts of meat. Our server had to cut most guests meat. I know the knives are TSA approved but they've worked fine on our sailings past.

No one finished their pastas,, servers had seen this before and immediately offered anything else as they whisked the uneaten fare away. It remained polite and drama free.

COSTCO free-sample size portions, but hold the thought you can get more, just ask your server.

Lobster night was THE best Lobster anyone ever had in their lifetimes. Really pulled it off. AMAZING and can't rave enough about it.

Main dining food got noticeably better night after night.

The ships retail stores put out their low selling merch the first few night of the cruise, then the new, better selling items appeared day 4. A simple cruise dedicated T shirt had a fantastic design but was made of that cheap, only-last 2 washings tissue-paper quality material and very expensive. Most of us skipped that.

Until recently we never encountered cheap quality clothing on DCL but it's very common now and we just won't buy it. Especially at DCL prices. We give our kids an onboard spending budget and lately we return home with most of it, not spending much at all. "Poor quality" the reason.

We seem to remember quite some time ago guests could order ANYTHING on/off the ships various menus from room service. Now just the basics Hamburger and rubber chicken sticks and some side items. Mickey bars not on the menu, but "off" the menu and still available, just ask.
We miss the full menu.

Salads at dinner service come with a thimble-sized dab of dressings.

13 hours sitting on a plane in-route and returning is torture. First, business or economy class it is a painful experience. We're limiting our flites to DCL departure ports to under 5 hours from now on.

Dublin Airport had a 4 hour power outage and that created horrendous issues too numerous to list. We spent hours standing in lines that you wouldn't believe the length. Astounding issues. Most major airports have back up electricity enough to power the entire grid, but not Dublin. This diverted flights and created colossal issues on a biblical scale.

Best to fly to Heathrow or other London airports and make the trek to Southampton, then a non-stop flite home.

Cork was amazing but the credit card readers were down so most the towns business were on a cash-only transaction mode. That's gotta hurt.

Glenoch: Bus rides to points of interest were 6 to 8 our horror stories. Some Tour companies not on their game, miserable goes the tales. Cue up and stand in the weather 1 hour before boarding the bus, and a 1 hour wait onboard the bus while the driver waited in line to buy entrance tickets at the points of interest. Three hour drive there, then three hours back.

Several different tours offered and these were the reports we heard. Not good from the excursions they took, maybe others that experienced better but beware. Read the legit reviews before spending your time and money. Learn to spot fake reviews.

Plusses:
Like I mentioned Lobster night. So good a benchmark standard of the cruise industry.

Aer Lingus has good food, amazing service and for families with baby's some A330's have "seat front" cribs. Baby's all slept the flight away. Read that: ALL.

Entire DCL crew appreciative and helpful. IOHO's reason enough to cruise Disney but eat in ports if the food is not to your liking. Always pre-check the ports food locations reviews and discard any review that over-embellished the ports location, they are most always shills. Consider discarding some of the bad reviews as well.

Portsmouth fantastic. Don't miss that stop.
Cork beautiful.
Liverpool, rainy and cold but we made the treks and saw the sights. Walk every 20 steps and something good and historic to see.

A few port arrivals and departures many of the towns turned out on the docks to welcome and wave us off. One stop an amazing smartly dressed choir gathered and sang. Some ports the Dream sounded it's unique Disney-themed horns and probably in others it's not so appreciated and refrained.

Be back with more tales and pictures, Have to walk the dog first.

Had we booked this cruise with Dreams Unlimited, we would have easily saved at least $400. You can always reserve your cabin on any DCL cruise, then flip the booking over to Dreams Unlimited. Ships fill fast and this will insure ya get a cabin.
They know things you don't know - that you don't know, and maybe I'll post a thread all about that later.

Tight squeeze onto the harbor. Cleared it by a paint job:

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Interesting thoughts, I was on the ship two cruises before you, the 27th August 5 night to Spain. I'm in the middle of my trip report here

Oh gosh you got caught in the Dublin airport power cut. I live in Dublin and read about that. It was a a power outage in the North Dublin area. Dublin airport does have back up generators but the nature of the outage caused an issue with the airport’s back-up generators.

I didnt have the issues you seem to have with the MDR food. But maybe I just order different food items. I am putting photos of all the meals in my trip report.

Disney merchandise and Disney Cruise merchandise is in high demand on the UK cruises as we don't have the same access as American passengers. Shop Disney UK / Shop Disney Europe don't have the same items as American Shop Disney. Also we have import tax added to items bought online from America. On all the August UK sailings there have been personal shoppers who start queuing at the shops straight after Muster. They have been clearing out the shops of the Dream Spirit Jerseys and Loungefly bags during early dinner on embarkation day. By the time of your cruise, the shop cm were just probably so over the chaos and madness of all the previous cruises.

Again regarding the MDR servers. By the time of your cruise, they have had a very stressful summer season, with al ot of issues on the UK sailings from people who do not know general cruise etiquette and Disney cruise etiquette. You just got tired stressed servers, who are just done with entitled demanding first time UK cruisers.

Regarding the credit card readers being down. Was that Cork city, or Cobh town? Cobh is a small rural fishing village. Rural Ireland does not have the best internet service. Always have cash as a back up. A similar thing happened to me in La Coruna and Vigo. Some shops card readers would not accept my pre paid travel card. I always have cash as a back up, so I was fine and could still get what I wanted to buy.

Glad you liked Air Lingus They are my airline of choice and I have been flying to America with them for over 20 years.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

My hat is off to Aer Lingus staff for handling the power outage. They got it all organized and cued and dealt with as good as could possible be expected. Flites were diverted, re scheduled and they got them back and everyone's scheduled jived and dovetailed.

Security though long,, we got a wink and a nod from the local Irish employees if ya know what I mean without saying any more.

On the cab ride back to the airport the driver mentioned the British Spitfire WWII airplane. I replied 'The Super Marine that Mitchell designed and built."
The driver perked up, "ahh you're keen on that" and we stopped off at the site of the factory, then a quick trip to Mitchells grave.

Remember the drivers are paid flat rate, no meters and that was a super gesture by the driver much appreciated.
We tip the drivers in local currency. Not expected but much appreciated.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

My hat is off to Aer Lingus staff for handling the power outage. They got it all organized and cued and dealt with as good as could possible be expected. Flites were diverted, re scheduled and they got them back and everyone's scheduled jived and dovetailed.

Thats one of the reasons why I fly Aer Lingus, even for short haul European flights. When things go wrong they look after passengers. In about 25 years of flying with them, Ive had all sorts of things happen, both at Dublin airport and at destination airports, and each time its all been sorted efficiently.

Actually, thats not correct about the flat rate. Regular taxis, either hailed on the street or through UBER and FREENOW Apps are metered. The fares which are set by law are:

1. Day tariff Initial Charge = €3.80 Price per kilometer =€1.14 - €1.50
2. Night tariff Initial Charge =€4.20 Price per kilometer =€1.45 - €1.80
3. Sunday all-day Initial Charge = €4.20 Price per kilometer =€1.45 - €1.80

Some taxi companies have set point A to point B fares for regular high demand routes. Usually these are from a hotel in Dublin city centre to the airport and are usually only available through the hotel reception. Basically its an arrangement between the hotel and the taxi companies, and the hotel will get a fee / % of the fare for providing customers.

Also regarding a tipping taxis. I very rarely tip taxis in Dublin. Basically taxis like the one you had, turn on the charm as they know Americans tip. If you dont mind sharing, how much did you pay, from where to Dublin airport?

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

No taxis in Dublin.

We took a taxi in Southampton airport to the hotel near the Dream.

There is a desk you request a taxi at near the airport exit to the street.
The desk then dispatches a ride from a waiting taxi pool.

Desk employee recommended American Express CC and the flat rate cost is 23 pounds.

Driver pulled up, picked us up, as we drove off driver asked what CC we will pay with.

We said American Express and the driver went ballistic and didn’t want that.

Fine, I used a Visa. We were supposed to get a receipt texted - never happened.

Driver seemed either high on drugs or drunk.
I calmed him down when I flipped him a $3 tip after his insulting remarks about Americans, me mentioning only Americans tip.
It shut him up.

Driver was Polish by the way.

Time was I would gladly box a rude person, have him stop the cab and we’ll settle this in the street, but kindness works better than that and spending our trip in a British jail was no vacation.

The tip caused the driver to calm down.

He dropped us off at the hotel but first gave us an excellent tip how to walk with our luggage from the hotel to the Dream thru a 100 yard shortcut avoiding a stressful long half mile long way there walk with luggage.

There is security and driver told us what to say to gain passage thru the shortcut.

So next morning we checked out, headed to the Shortcut and a group of people with their luggage asked us how to walk to the Dream.

“Follow us, let me do the talking” and we all headed out.

Sure enough the shortcut security tried to stop all of us, I said what the taxi driver told me to say, and our group proceeded and we easily conveniently made it to the Dream.

The $3 US tip was money well spent and kindness eclipses anger with throwing fists every time.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

No taxis in Dublin.

We took a taxi in Southampton airport to the hotel near the Dream.

There is a desk you request a taxi at near the airport exit to the street.
The desk then dispatches a ride from a waiting taxi pool.

Desk employee recommended American Express CC and the flat rate cost is 23 pounds.

Driver pulled up, picked us up, as we drove off driver asked what CC we will pay with.

We said American Express and the driver went ballistic and didn’t want that.

Fine, I used a Visa. We were supposed to get a receipt texted - never happened.

Driver seemed either high on drugs or drunk.
I calmed him down when I flipped him a $3 tip after his insulting remarks about Americans, me mentioning only Americans tip.
It shut him up.

Driver was Polish by the way.

Time was I would gladly box a rude person, have him stop the cab and we’ll settle this in the street, but kindness works better than that and spending our trip in a British jail was no vacation.

The tip caused the driver to calm down.

He dropped us off at the hotel but first gave us an excellent tip how to walk with our luggage from the hotel to the Dream thru a 100 yard shortcut avoiding a stressful long half mile walk with luggage.

There is security and driver told us what to say to gain passage thru the shortcut.

So next morning we checked out, headed to the Shortcut and a group of people with their luggage asked us how to walk to the Dream.

“Follow us, let me do the talking” and we all headed out.

Sure enough the shortcut security tried to stop all of us, I said what the taxi driver told me to say, and our group proceeded and we easily continently made it to the Dream.

The $3 US tip was money well spent and kindness eclipses anger and throwing fists every time.

Ah ok, but same deal in Southampton. The airport get a cut / % for having the phone connect to a specific cab company.

Rookie mistake. American Express charge huge rates to European retailers, so very few places will accept them. Im not surprised the driver had a fit, he thought he was getting stiffed for the fare by stupid Americans. Sorry, thats how it would have looked. Tipping in US dollars, is another insult, again just plays into the perception of stupid Americans. But by that stage, he knew he was getting paid.

I use Southampton airport. I get the train, very easy, just a 10 minute ride and then I walk to my hotel from the train station.

I also walked to Horizon cruise Terminal from my hotel, Ibis , which is almost directly opposite the cruise building.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

In Ireland the ships passengers were blindsided having to turn in our passports.
Very un popular and I’ve never experienced that.

I guard our passports with my life.

Wheelbarrows full of passports for Irish authorities to stamp.

Turn your passport into Guest services then pick them up 3 days later.

I learned we could go to the Buena Visa theater and have it grudgingly stamped and keep it in your possession.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Ah ok, but same deal in Southampton. The airport get a cut / % for having the phone connect to a specific cab company.

Rookie mistake. American Express charge huge rates to European retailers, so very few places will accept them. Im not surprised the driver had a fit, he thought he was getting stiffed for the fare by stupid Americans. Sorry, thats how it would have looked. Tipping in US dollars, is another insult, again just plays into the perception of stupid Americans. But by that stage, he knew he was getting paid.

I use Southampton airport. I get the train, very easy, just a 10 minute ride and then I walk to my hotel from the train station.

I also walked to Horizon cruise Terminal from my hotel, Ibis , which is almost directly opposite the cruise building.

You make assumptions in your posts. Are you even reading my posts?

We tipped in British money the US equiv and it was between $3 and $5 US not sure of the exchange rate. Probably closer to $3.60 when I bought the notes.
Doesn’t matter.

I never use American Express knowing well the Vig Amex charges and if you read again and read all of it Amex was suggested by the dispatcher.

I only carry Amex card for a back up.

BTW I’m not stupid but realize posts like yours are inevitable in forums - none the less there are other people that gain from them by actually reading them and not jumping to rude conclusions.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

You make assumptions.
We tipped in British money the US equiv.

I never use American Express knowing well the Vig Amex charges and if you read again Amex was suggested by the dispatcher. I only carry Amex card for a back up.

BTW I’m not stupid.

Im not assuming you are Im just trying to clarify for other Americans reading this, who may not be aware of things. Explaining the reasons why American Express is not used and that you tipped in UK £ Pounds Sterling, just helps others be better prepared, thats all

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

In Ireland the ships passengers were blindsided having to turn in our passports.
Very un popular and I’ve never experienced that.

I guard our passports with my life.

Wheelbarrows full of passports for Irish authorities to stamp.

Turn your passport into Guest services then pick them up 3 days later.

I learned we could go to the Buena Visa theater and have it grudgingly stamped and keep it in your possession.

Turning in your passports is to do with immigration rules and to make sure all passengers have the correct entry requirements. You boarded in a non EU country and are going to Ireland, an EU , non Schengen country. There are so many vlogs about passports being handed in on British Isles cruises, and its also on places like cruise critic. This has been happening for many years and the information is out there.

Again its good to highlight this for future American passengers