Dream - pools are WAY too small

[catzle]

I talked my whole family into coming with us on this cruise. They are going to kill me if they can't get into a pool. I think this is the craziest thing I have ever heard.

 

[glassslipper2004]

Anyone know how early in the day the Aqua Duck opens? My girls and I had fun swimming super-early one morning on the Wonder, but my guess is that they won't let you use the Aqua Duck that early/without lots of supervision.

This situation is making me rethink our plans for the day in Nassau. I had considered just staying on the ship, but now we might go to Atlantis and pay the big bucks for their water park, since it doesn't look as if we will get much water play on the Dream.

 

[breakingd_awn]

Does anyone know if the 25 person limit in the pool is actually true? That just doesn't sound logical at all with all the people on board. They should run it like the BMV, and give us all a number and a time limit

 

[Disneyholic]

Glow? Not from baking in the sun!

I think they were refering to so white WE glow. I don't go in for tanning either and friends claim they need sunglasses around me because I am so bright white.

 

[Friscorays]

I still think this is much ado over nothing and that the pool capacity will prove to be adequate.

Orlando Disney Guy, someone who has actually been on the Dream, had this to say in the thread he recently started (emphasis added by me):

"Pirate night was awesome. A lot of games and characters for the kiddies, there was a little break then fireworks and then it went into the dance party with Jack Sparrow. I don't know if it was because we were not sailing fully loaded and that the pool deck is soooo much larger it didnot seem like a lot of people was there."

 

[Donna3271]

I live in sunny Southern California and have a pool and this is still irritating me. Looks like you and I are agitating each other about this situation in competing posts.

I TOTALLY agree with you. I have a pool as well, as do many of the people on this board, and it is important to me to have similar if not better accommodations when I am away. Lets not get pre-upset. Hopefully, we'll get some good reviews when people get off the ship.

 

[DisneyDreamer8]

It does look like the pools are not sufficient for the number of people on board but it may not be as bad as it seems. I have sailed 5 times and have never been in the pools or hot tubs. I live in an area where we don't have pools. I love to swim but we use the ocean while on a cruise. We usually use one port of call as a "beach day".

I would not cancel just because the pools are too small. Even if the pools were bigger there is no guarentee that the pool will be open. They get closed for many reasons ie, rough seas, contamination, repair etc. On our Panama cruise in 05 it seemed the Mickey pool was closed at somepoint in the day, everyday, because of contamination.

Just go, enjoy and roll with the flow

 

[lvstitch]

Here is one area where I have to give credit to RCCL. Their pools are very generously sized and never felt at all crowded. Too bad a drunk vomited in one which closed it on a beautiful sea day. The other had beer cans floating in it.

Had this happen to me on the Magic. Quiet Cove pool was closed for 3 hours while the drained it, bleached it and filled it back up.

PS: just got off the Oasis, 6000 people and the pools were never crowded.

 

[NancyIL]

I think they were refering to so white WE glow. I don't go in for tanning either and friends claim they need sunglasses around me because I am so bright white.

Thanks for the insight! I don't like to lounge by the pool/beach, but I tan easily. Even with high SPF sunscreen, I still end up with a farmer's tan just from walking around outdoors!

 

[DMMarla07860]

well I don't go in pools much so doesn't really affect me, what i usually do put on a bathing suit, go to the pool decide I want to go in put me feet in and then decide I don't to go in haha

 

[SirGalahad]

People need to get there heads together. You're talking about canceling before there has been one official cruise yet. Just wait till there have been a couple of cruises and there is feedback from a lot of different people.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I can only imagine that Disney did the largest they could by code....there are many restrictions and I'm sure they have found issues on their previous ship's pools (having to close it down, refill due to contamination etc.) that forced the engineers to design them this way...Because you know Disney (resorts), they make their pools massive!

Tara

Then how can RCCL's Navigator & Explorer of the Seas do it? Besides these 2, there is a large adults only pool fwd and another kiddie pool aft. These ships are 138,279 tons, not their largest at all. The Dream is 130,000 tons so very similar is size.
Regardless of their pool size, cruising on them left me missing DCL.

 

[Weedy]

I think it looks like the pools layout will work better.

The Mickey slide ends away from the pool, so does the Aqua Duck

There are more water play areas

The Mickey and the Family pool are together on a deck area that is more open. Before the food area blocked this area making it hard to move around.

The teens have a private pool area

And my favorite the adult pool area has shade. So they are asking people to go up a deck to sun themselves making people use an area that was not used on the Magic and Wonder.

We will have to see how it works out on the sea days once it gets warmer.

 

[Bruin Family]

People need to get there heads together. You're talking about canceling before there has been one official cruise yet. Just wait till there have been a couple of cruises and there is feedback from a lot of different people.

I am not going to cancel regarding the pools, but I am a little concerned that the first few cruises (January-February) won't really tell us if there is a problem. I cruise in early April, which is when it starts getting hot enough for the pool problem to manifest itself.

 

[stevenpensacola]

I don't cruise to swim in a pool...not an issue for us.

now if they go messin' with the food...look out now!

 

[anna08]

I'll bet there's some good reason for the size - my guess would be that one of the biggest aggravations for folks is the very frequent pool closure for contamination which seems to knock that particular pool out for the day. Then everyone is stuck trying to squeeze in the remaining pools. Maybe the Dream pools can be "refurbished" quickly and not be out of commission for so long.

 

[CTXRover]

I too infrequently use the pools on any of the ships I've cruised on. I spend my time swimming on the beaches or doing water sports at the ports and use the ship time for other things.

That said, I totally understand and appreciate the concern regarding whether there will be enough pool space. Personally, I think once the cruises get underway, only then will we know if it is anything of major issue. With as beautiful as this ship looks, a smaller pool area certainly is not keeping me away from booking on her.

Like almost everyone else, I have not seen the pools myself, but I don't think they are as small as everyone thinks. Plus, even assuming every bed is filled, not all 4000 passengers are going to want to swim at the same time. The family pool looks 100X more inviting to me than the hole in the ground that is the Goofy pool. The Donald pool also looks larger to me than the Goofy pools, especially when you consider its shape and the fact that the ship itself is much wider. There are a few pics thus far with people next to it, but when I look at pics of the Magic, the Donald pool certainly looks bigger to me. 40% bigger? Probably not, but with everything else to do and all the deck space, it may work.

Plus, if they can hold 12 people in the Magic's Elevators (if I'm remembering right), that pool can hold more than 25

 

[disneydawg10]

From looking at the pictures, I too am a little concerned with the pools' sizes. However, as other have mentioned, the teens have their own area, and there are still many other activities to enjoy. We aren't going until July, so we have some time to see how it works and make it work for us. We are swimmers and serious water people (we are just a step away from being considered fish being able to live out of water). We were going to skip Nassau, but we may think about a beach excursion. Who knows, I just may not want to leave Bingo!

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

We cruise for the sunshine, beaches, pools...anything that has to do with the outdoors......And my crew is going to be crushed to find out that the pool size is not much bigger than what is being shown. We have cruised on RCI's Liberty of the Seas...which has pools even larger than the ones shown in the pictures above...plus an H2O zone that is huge with its own swimming pools and play areas...plus the adult areas...plus the extra hot tubs... I was really hoping that DCL would improve the upper decks...mainly the pool areas. I am not requesting what RCI has done...just something bigger...not just a hole in the deck with a pool in it. Anyhow...we cruise on April 3rd...we shall see what the kids and husband think!


Crystal

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

Has anyone CONFIRMED the 25 person limit? I haven't seen any pictures of signs stating that yet. That really worries me with how they could maintain that. Would they have a line so when 1 person gets out another gets in?