Freaking Out

[NickyKnack]

Reading this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3189430 has got me a little freaked out.

So many people are talking about how bad the Dream is... should I cancel my trip in April and switch over to the Magic? We're staying concierge if that makes a difference. And it is a 4 day instead of a 3 day, and of personal note we enjoyed our last 4 day more than our 7 day.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

We loved our very first and only cruise aboard the dream. So much were going back in January. I read the link you posted that person complained about the staff not getting to know them and tell them about themselves, frankly I would find that annoying. Everyone has a different expectation out of a holiday. We enjoyed the food. I don't think service / food will dramatically change between the dream and the magic they are both Disney managed.

 

[princessnpirate]

I have done the Magic twice and did the Dream this past August. We had a great vacation. Are they different? Yes they are but everyone's opinion is different.

But I can tell you I found the staff as great on the Dream as the Magic. And if you are doing concierge, it is so much more of an experience on the Dream. The access to the lounge and the concierge staff was phenomenal.

 

[DLgal]

We've done two Dream cruises. One 5 day (our first Disney cruise) and one 3 day. Obviously we liked the Dream enough to do it again a year later! However, that said, the three day cruise was less enjoyable overall. The 5 night was one day too long (we actually got bored). I think 4 is the magic number for us so our next cruise will be a 4 night on the new Magic.

Honestly, the OP in that other thread seemed to have unrealistic expectations.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Go and enjoy yourself! As I stated in that thread, I've cruised the Dream three times in a year and she is awesome.

You'll have a great time

Heather

 

[Lisa Lisa]

My DH, DD and I sailed a 4-night on the Dream as our first DCL cruise. We had an incredible time and booked a 7-night on the Fantasy while onboard. Not because we didn't love every minute of our cruise on the Dream, but because we wanted more of a good thing. DH and I chose a 4-night on the Dream to celebrate our 15th anniversary. Once again we had a fantastic experience. That time we upgraded to concierge at port, and I agree with what a PP said -- the concierge experience on the Dream is fantastic. We LOVED the concierge lounge. Plus, celebrating our anniversary at Remy was an amazing experience.

I've never been on the Magic or Wonder (although I hope to sail both eventually) so I can't compare the experiences, but we are huge fans of the Dream and Fantasy and would sail either of them again in a heartbeat!

 

[amomma23]

Reading this thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3189430 has got me a little freaked out.

So many people are talking about how bad the Dream is... should I cancel my trip in April and switch over to the Magic? We're staying concierge if that makes a difference. And it is a 4 day instead of a 3 day, and of personal note we enjoyed our last 4 day more than our 7 day.

I've been reading that thread, too. We switched our 1st cruise from the Wonder to the Dream next year. I thought it would be easier to leave from PC than Miami. I was totally excited, and reading that has taken some of that excitement away. I decided I'm just not going to read anymore and form my own opinions about it. We've never cruised on any ship before, so we have nothing to compare it to. We're pretty easy going and tend to make the most of situations, so I'm sure we'll have a good trip, no matter what.

 

[Dug720]

We went on the Dream this summer and LOVED it! I loved it so much I booked myself on a Dream 4-night in February the first morning we were on the ship.

We went in expecting to have a wonderful family vacation to celebrate an anniversary and some birthdays, and that's exactly what we had. Did our servers become our new BFFs? No...but that isn't their job. Their job is to provide excellent service, and they did exactly that. Were there a few hiccups? Of course. NOTHING is perfect. But because we didn't go in with overinflated expectations of it being the "BEST VACATION THAT EVER WILL BE", those little bumps didn't bother us.

Bottom line... I firmly believe that you mentally set yourself up for the kind of vacation you're going to have, odds are, that's the kind of vacation you're going to have. If you're going in thinking "there are going to be problems," you're going to find problems. If you go in with the attitude that you're going to have a great family time on a wonderful vacation, you'll most likely get it! Please note, I didn't say "PERFECT" or "VACATION OF A LIFETIME" - extremes are just asking for failure. (Remember the adage "Always is always false and never is never true"? Same thing applies. Realize that the crew members are actual humans - not audioanimatronic figures - who will have ups and downs. They shouldn't take it out on you, but there will be things that cause less than perfection. And that's ok.)

(And FWIW, I'm having to remind myself of all of these things as I'm going to be cruising to Alaska for a running cruise with my coach and her husband and a group - on Holland America. I'm going in knowing it's not Disney, but trying to stay positive - I'm going to meet great people with similar interests, I'm going to see a beautiful part of the country, and it's going to be fine! Will my name be announced as I walk on? No. But knowing a bit of what to expect going in (and ok, I'll admit it...buying a DCL throw to take with me for Glacier Bay day), I'm confident that I'll have a wonderful time.)

 

[ocspartan]

If your doing concierge stay on the dream. Did four and three day cruises on the dream so liked it enough to go back. I think the post you linked was a personal experience with a specific server.

I can say on both of our trips we had great serving teams, remembered what we liked and spent time entertaining the kids, our server would offer to cut our dons meet. On each the kids were so excited to hand over the tip envelopes. And this is coming from someone who even complained about a part if our service bc on one trip our head server was Mia the entire trip so I'm a pretty critical traveller. But the rest of the serving team just stepped it up even more.

As far as the food no complaints is the mdr the same quality as remy? No if course not. I compare them to nice banquet halls like at weddings. And if your expecting a Michelin star when they are making hundreds of meals at the same time I'm sorry but you will be disappointed.

I like the dream class ships better personally. To each his own

 

[silkie8]

Like OP, I opted for Disney Dream to be able to depart from PC instead of Miami.

I stopped reading the thread from the disappointed first-time cruiser. I am sorry for their experience, but I choose not to let it sour me on our cruise, which we are Super Excited about.

I remember when I was in the work-force, everyone in a meeting room was complaining about the temperature - very Hot in the room. Finally a wise person said, "why not share your concern with someone who can DO something about it...". Someone went out to the guys who controlled the temp, problem got fixed quickly.

So....I would have gone to head server after first MDR dinner to speak about slow, inattentative service. And enjoyed all there is to enjoy on rest of cruise. Life is short.

 

[Alsobrook]

A couple of things. Sometimes I note that people who have been on longer cruises, and on the Wonder and Magic, don't have the same warm fuzzy feeling from the shorter cruises (regardless of ship) or on the large ships. Part of it is personal taste. I'm in that category. The shorter cruises feel to rushed and I don't feel like Disney has been able to duplicate the Disney Magic and Disney Feel on the larger ships OR on shorter cruises. So, I won't ever take one again unless I can be convinced that they've been successful.

The other thing is that people have very high expectations and pay very high prices for DCL. It's ok to have high expectations, but when they aren't met, it's disappointing, and it's costly to boot.

You can, and others have, enjoy a wonderful cruise with DCL regardless of ship size or duration.

My personal feeling is that if you have the time and money, go on the Wonder or Magic for a 7 night cruise. If they aren't available, larger ship, but longer cruise.

 

[carpenta]

Been on all four of the ships and the Dream twice. They all delivery top notch service IMO. Food is similar. Since the Dream does short cruises vs. Magic does longer I think the pace and cliental are different and can throw some cruisers if they come to expect similar atmosphere. I have come to notice over the years some just like to complain. You"re going to have a wonderful cruise.

 

[Four Swampers]

Well, I feel bad because I am one of the people who dissed the Dream a little. As mentioned by other posters, much of your enjoyment of a vacation depends on your expectations and attitude. If you expect Mickey and Minnie to sit and dine with you, you are going to be disappointed, because they don't. If you expect to have coffee spilled on your lap, you will be pleased when your server doesn't spill coffee on you.

Even the classic ships don't have everyone bending over backwards to become your best friend. I have to remind myself of that, because I am always hoping all the castmembers want to be my best friend!

There are all kinds of fun things to do on the Dream. The Aquadunk is great. Midship Detective Agency is a blast. Dinner is nice. I love turtle talk with Crush. I am an adult with two teen daughters, and I can't get enough of turtle talk. First, I just flat out love talking with Crush. Second, I am amazed at the technology that allows Crush's visual appearance to instantly match the emotion and feel of what he is saying. How do they do that? It is amazing!

Go cruise on the Dream. Go with a positive attitude and realistic expectations and have a great time!

 

[quickcat]

I definitely would not switch. Our first cruise was a 3 night cruise and I did not read the disboards at all. I did not have in my mind what should and should not happen or what we need to do or what others did not like. I actually think that helped a lot! We all loved it and had a great time. We've been on 4 others with Disney since! Go and just have fun. Don't worry about what others liked and did not like. Who knows, you may actually like something others said was terrible (people always are saying how much they don't like Villians- that was my dh favorite show)

 

[lindylou2_2002]

People are just giving their opinions, you need to make your on decisions based on your experiences not ours. I am in the longer cruises on classic ship camp and maybe the Dream would be better on a longer cruise.

But I have only experienced the rushing of the Dream on a three day cruise. We did point out to the Head server the our dishes had come out wrong twice in one night and he didn't really seem very effective to be honest.

It still went as slowly and some had finished by the time the correct food came out.

Not much point in sharing it on here if you don't try to get the problem fixed
1st. That's just moaning for moaning sake.

 

[maddysmom]

I just got off a 3 day Dream - concierge level cruise and it was fantastic. This was our second cruise on the Dream. Our serving staff was not wonderful but it did not impact the enjoyment of our trip. The concierge team, on the other hand, did impact our enjoyment of our trip - they were great!! We've been back 3 days and I miss the team! They were just so friendly and outgoing and made each person feel important and special. Is 3 days short? Yes, but that's all we could do with work and school. On the first cruise, we tried to do an activity at every open time slot and left feeling exhausted. This time, we relaxed and didn't try to squeeze it all in. Our next one is 7 days in June 2014 - we will be trying the fantasy for the first time. Not because we didn't enjoy the dream, we just wanted a longer cruise and a different itinerary. Don't let a few negative opinions ruin your excitement.

 

[NickyKnack]

I love getting to know and chatting with servers but I don't think a short time limit will be an issue for us, as we tend to do that every time we go out and we don't have the same server (With a couple of exceptions) every time we go to even the same restaurant.

If I can do it in one meal - I think I can manage four nights.

We loved our very first and only cruise aboard the dream. So much were going back in January. I read the link you posted that person complained about the staff not getting to know them and tell them about themselves, frankly I would find that annoying. Everyone has a different expectation out of a holiday. We enjoyed the food. I don't think service / food will dramatically change between the dream and the magic they are both Disney managed.

 

[NickyKnack]

Me too, initally that was my only disappointment when I realized that car problems meant we had to cancel one of our b2b cruises. We canceled the Magic in favor of the dream and I think I was a little twitchy about it even before I read the other thread.

The idea of 4 days on the Magic is amazing to me because I love the Villain shows and hate 7 day cruises. Maybe someday when I'm not a stay at home housewife with nothing to do all day but clean house and play on the computer 7 days of relaxation will sound great to me. Right now, because of my staid life I like my vacations to be go go go!

I think a lot of the flack the Villains get comes from parents who have kids who get scared. (Which I can understand) but we're childless so, that's not an issue for us and I've always been a little Villian Mad.

I definitely would not switch. Our first cruise was a 3 night cruise and I did not read the disboards at all. I did not have in my mind what should and should not happen or what we need to do or what others did not like. I actually think that helped a lot! We all loved it and had a great time. We've been on 4 others with Disney since! Go and just have fun. Don't worry about what others liked and did not like. Who knows, you may actually like something others said was terrible (people always are saying how much they don't like Villians- that was my dh favorite show)

 

[tweis]

We have loved both of our cruises on the Dream. We did a 5 night as a family last year and this year DH and I took a 3 night for our anniversary. I didn't go into either of them thinking everything was going to go perfect and be the best vacations ever but they ended up being our favorite trips to date. My kids didn't like the kids club and I didn't like our two sea days but that didn't ruin our trips and it didn't make me dislike the Dream. I hear so many complaints about the servers but we have had wonderful friendly servers both times. I would not let someone else's disappointment sway me from sailing the Dream but don't go in with unrealistic expectations either. Everything is not going to be perfect but it can be a very magical trip.

 

[tweis]

Me too, initally that was my only disappointment when I realized that car problems meant we had to cancel one of our b2b cruises. We canceled the Magic in favor of the dream and I think I was a little twitchy about it even before I read the other thread.

The idea of 4 days on the Magic is amazing to me because I love the Villain shows and hate 7 day cruises. Maybe someday when I'm not a stay at home housewife with nothing to do all day but clean house and play on the computer 7 days of relaxation will sound great to me. Right now, because of my staid life I like my vacations to be go go go!

I think a lot of the flack the Villains get comes from parents who have kids who get scared. (Which I can understand) but we're childless so, that's not an issue for us and I've always been a little Villian Mad.

Villains Tonight on the Dream is my favorite show.