I Like DREAMin! 4/21/11 3-night Dream – First Timer Report

[tnshsms]

Great terminal picture! Thanks for the info...subbing!

 

[Xavier's Nana]

Love the picture of the terminal - first one I've seen. We're not going until January so I've enjoying seeing pictures of everyone elses. Can't wait to see more.

 

[TiffLB]

Embarkation Day Part 2 – Touring & Sail Away

Right after our names were announced, a CM took us aside and told us that Cabanas was open for lunch, and that our stateroom would be ready at 1:30pm. We headed up to Cabanas where a CM showed us to a table and gave us a brief orientation to the buffet stations. They explained that it wasn't supposed to be one big line, but you could go up to any station and make your selections. I'm not usually a big fan of buffets – most are mediocre with lukewarm food. Thankfully, we were all pleasantly surprised with the selection at Cabanas. I had a delicious and flavorful tarragon pasta dish with some equally delicious lamb chops – and lots of shrimp cocktail - yummy! The kids were also very happy – even my picky-non-meat-eating son (this is a kid who won't even touch a chicken nugget with a ten foot pole!!) I found an apple for him, which I sliced up & peanut butter to dip the slices in – and he was a very happy camper! Here's a photo of my very happy kids at lunch -

There was plenty of variety – from carved meats, pasta, fish, pizza, breads, deli, salad bar, and more – all of us were very happy with our selections. Dessert was also delicious – we tried some great quality hard scoop ice cream, chocolate mouse, and key lime pie – again, all were yummy! By this time, it was 1:30 and we decided to go check out our staterooms so we could drop off our carry-ons.

DH, the kids and I were in cabin 8674 – category 6A. My parents were next door in the adjoining cabin 8676. Here's a photo of our cabin when we arrived (sorry about the glare from the window light):

A few notes about our cabin: We loved the layout – the kids loved the bunk that came down, and each had a chance to sleep in it (and enjoy the Peter Pan stars on the ceiling!) The split bathroom was perfect – it made it very efficient for all of us to get cleaned up after days in the pool or at the beach - and I just loved having the tub – DS still loves to take a bath, and I loved how spacious it was - and having a place to rest my foot while shaving was wonderful – ya know what I mean, ladies! There was plenty of storage – drawers, two closets, and tons of room under the bed for luggage. We never felt cramped at all.

Veranda notes – we asked our wonderful cabin steward, Caroline, to open the privacy panel between our two verandas, which she did during this afternoon. That opened up the space nicely. Our veranda is one of the ones that, on the left side, is actually enclosed and partially blocked by curved metal. (See the photos below.) This has the effect of partially blocking the view, which really didn't impair the viewing much at all – especially since we opened up the panel between our verandas. It also, very nicely, acted as a wind break, which was wonderful while we were moving.

Here are a couple of pictures of our veranda taken from inside the stateroom (before the privacy panel was folded back.)

This is my DS sitting in the enclosed side of the veranda:

In this picture you can see where the privacy panel was folded back, and you can see into my parents' veranda.

The kids wanted to see what the kids clubs were like, so we decided to go and check them out. First we went touring the Oceaneer's Lab & Club. DS was quite impressed with the amount of computer screens – different game stations, the floor, and game tables. He tried out a few of them while a couple of the counselors answered our questions. Here are a few photos:

The Lab:

In this one you can see into the large activity room – we saw a Silly Science presentation going on when we went to pick DS up the next day.

Andy's Room:

After we left the clubs, we walked through the atrium where more families were being welcomed to the ship.

Then we headed up to the Edge. DD got a chance to meet some of the counselors, and they invited her to come back that night for the ice breakers. They also told her about the secret elevator that could be activated only by her key card which brought her right up to the Edge – she thought that was very cool!

The Edge:

The schedule for that day: (DD loved GaGa ball – like indoor dodge ball)

Then we thought we'd check out the pool deck, so we headed up and toured around, getting the lay of the land. Since it was getting close to lifeboat drill time, we decided not to try & go for a swim. The kids were happy just walking around and checking everything out. I just love this photo – a thrilling view of the pool deck – makes me want to go back every time I look at it – all that excitement waiting to happen!

We headed back to our stateroom and our luggage was there..yipee! We unpacked our FE and hung it up and then headed to the lifeboat drill – very easy & quick. Then back up to the pool deck for the sail away party...whoo hoo!! They had yummy frozen concoctions for sale – grown up and kid friendly varieties. CMs were handing out streamers to get everyone in the party spirit. We were right on the (covered over) pool deck, but we were behind people, so we couldn't see the stage much directly, but everything was projected on the large screen. Here's a photo of the four of us – ready to sail away!!

And this was our view of the sail away show:

The kids had a blast watching the sail away show & I got a thrill when we heard the horn sound for the first time – we were finally here on our first Disney cruise!!

Next installment – Dinner & 1st Evening Activities

 

[OregonDisneyDreamer]

I am really enjoying your trip report! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Amy162]

Hi there! I'm loving your report so far! We're sailing in January and I am so excited!!!

Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[Xavier's Nana]

Thanks for sharing. Love all the pictures. We aren't going until January for our first cruise. Your trip report makes us wish it were sooner! Can't wait to see more.

 

[KevinW]

Nice TR! We will be there in 16 days!

 

[pmurphy713]

Great trip report so far. It has answered a lot of questions that I have. We leave for a 5 night cruise on June 7. We cannot wait. It will be our first cruise, but hopefully not our last.

One question . . . is there anything that you wish you had brought with you that you didn't?? Any other advice you have for first time cruisers would be welcomed!!

 

[Princess Sleepy]

Loving your in-depth descriptions. We will be first-timers in October. Can't wait to read more.

 

[KatInHat]

Great trip report !! Thanks for sharing; it's getting me even more excited for our B2B in 19.5 days (but who's counting, right?) We are in room 8678 which would, I guess, be on the other side of the room your parents were in. What did you think about the location of the rooms?
I just can't wait to have a the drink of the day in my hand waiting to sail away!!
Thanks again for sharing!

 

[gfolchick]

Great start (and great pictures!) This is the first time that I've read that Edge has a private/secret elevator. My DS12 has been a bit bummed with the activities he's seen so far there compared to Vibe where his sister will be. Looking forward to hearing if your son returned to Edge and if he liked it.

Also, do you mind if I save your Castaway Cay pic and possibly use it for a FE gift?

 

[zimaaaaah]

Thanks for sharing! I too am curious about Edge and what your DD thought of it.

 

[TiffLB]

Our First Evening:

After the sail-away party, my parents and I headed back to our cabins to unpack a bit & get things ready for dinner, as we had the early seating at 5:45. DH took the kids up to play some mini golf – which they loved. After unpacking, my parents and I sat on the veranda and enjoyed sailing out of PC – with a little wine we brought with us…ahh the cruzin’ life!! We waved to folks at the campground and beach on shore as we floated by - don’t you wish you were us??? The kids came back & it was time to get ready for dinner and our first show!

My thoughts on early vs late seating: We chose the early seating mainly because DS is and early to bed early to rise kind of kid. It's probably a good thing, since by the end of the shows, he was fading fast & definitely ready for bed. I don't think he would have made it through a late dinner. However, we did seem to have to get ready for dinner pretty early, which curtailed our afternoon activities a bit since we had to get cleaned up for dinner. Since this was our first Dream cruise, we didn’t want to miss any of the shows…which brings us to the dilemma of cruising – with so much to do, how do you choose?? On this trip, we sacrificed some swimming/Aquaduck time in favor of exploration & dinner & the show. Since we hadn't gone swimming, no showers were needed – so we just changed into long pants/capris and headed for the dining room.

First Dinner – Enchanted Garden

We headed down to the Enchanted Garden right on time and were taken to our seats right away. We had a great table next to a porthole, so we could look out at the water as we sailed away – very nice. Our server was Kabelo from South Africa and Stephen from the UK – and we adored them both! DS was particularly enchanted with them, as he asked for plain pasta and raw veggies – and, according to him, the plain Mickey Mouse pasta was the best pasta he's ever had! And, they brought him seconds when he asked – DS was in heaven!

I made a decision that I wasn't going to interrupt dinner to take food pictures, (my family calls me the mamarazzi, so I tried to exhibit some control & only take a few photos at mealtime! ) All of us loved our meals – my Dad loves to cook and appreciates good food, and he loved everything he had. My first course was a brioche filled with mushrooms – delicious! I had the romaine wedge for my salad, also very good. And I had the NY strip steak with a double baked potato – I'm definitely a meat and potatoes kind of gal – very yummy! I remember my Dad had the scallops with the pearl pasta and said it was wonderful. Desserts were all delicious – here's a photo of DD enjoying her dessert by the porthole.

Dining in general: Our overall food experiences were very positive – all of the food was very tasty and there was nothing that we didn’t enjoy. We left each dining room full and satisfied. People on the boards have reported the dining rooms as being a bit crowded, and the servers being a bit rushed. We did notice a bit of that – Animators Palate was particularly cozy (I did have to ask DD to scoot her chair in a bit more so the servers could get by), but nothing that disrupted from our meal. We definitely noticed the servers hustling to attend to their tables, but we never felt rushed when they were interacting with us, and only once was something forgotten (my husband’s cup of tea....whoops!) Each dining room was quite beautiful, and Animators Palate was simply enchanting! More on that later…

After dinner, we made a stop back at the cabin, and were able to meet Caroline, our wonderful cabin steward. She was so sweet with the kids, and even gave DD a towel-animal lesson with her blanket. The kids loved seeing their bunks for the first time, and were excited to find the first treasures in our FE. At this point, the kids were completely hooked on this cruising thing!! Everything was magical and exciting – and they were loving it!

Here are the kids in their bunks:

And here is Caroline giving the kids a towel animal lesson in my parent’s cabin (while DS checks out his FE loot!)

Our show that night was the Golden Mickeys – which was a wonderful show. Nice story line to string all of the Disney vignettes together, excellent vocals and wonderful dancing. Top notch Disney quality! However, by the end, DS was exhausted & DH took him back to the room and I brought DD up to the Edge – (stay tuned for Edge opinions from DD – she’s been crazy this week with homework, but hopefully I can sit her down to record her impressions this weekend.) DD was thrilled that she could carry a wave phone to let us know when she was heading back to the room – since she doesn’t have her own phone yet. Didn’t take her long to figure out the texting!

I had a touch of a headache, so went up to the pool deck to check out the always-open drink station for something to wash down some ibuprophen – and, never shirking my Mamarazzi duties, snapped a photo of the Aquaduck lit up at night. Pretty!

I have to say, being on deck 8 aft was very convenient to popping up to Cabanas and the pool deck – very quick! I headed back to the cabin to relax, and about an hour later, DD called to say she was on her way back – and was excited that she easily found her way back to the cabin.

First day – Total Success & a happy cruising family! Stay tuned for Day 2 – Nassau day!

 

[loveysbydesign]

Great update! I can't wait to cruise on the Dream in october!

 

[loveysbydesign]

Also can;t wait to hear if your dd liked the Edge! my oldest ds will have just turned 12 and is thinking he may want to be in the lab instead of the Edge so he can be around his siblings who will be 9 and 4.

 

[FirstTimeDC]

Love your trip report & pictures! Can't wait for more!

 

[clower5luvzdiz]

Thanks for posting more about your trip. I appreciate your time in doing so and your honesty in doing it as well. My dd will look especially forward to your dd trip to the Edge and how she liked it. Have a great DISney day!

 

[PirateMom]

Loving your TR - can't wait to read more!

 

[TiffLB]

Great trip report so far. It has answered a lot of questions that I have. We leave for a 5 night cruise on June 7. We cannot wait. It will be our first cruise, but hopefully not our last.

One question . . . is there anything that you wish you had brought with you that you didn't?? Any other advice you have for first time cruisers would be welcomed!!

Ooh! So jealous that you are doing the 5-night - 3 nights definitely left us wishing for more! Can't wait to hear how your cruise goes!

Thinking over everything we did - I can't think of anything that I wished we had with us...if anything, I had too many clothes - but part of that was because we were in Orlando for 5 days before the cruise, and we were able to do laundry at our rental house - so we had plenty to wear! I brought fleece sweatshirts for the kids in case it was cool in the evening on deck - but I definitely didn't need them - just a windbreaker was enough on pirate night for the breeze. One of my favorite cruise necessities to bring is my toiletries case that is flat and has a hook to hang it up - very convenient! I'm also glad I purchased a couple of disposable waterproof cameras to use on Castaway Cay - I used them while we snorkeled, and also while I was floating, watching the kids play in the water - I could snap photos without worrying about my regular camera getting sandy or wet.

 

[Mastiff]

tifflb, great trip report so far! Sounds like you and your family had a lovely time!

pmurphy, Hello! My family and I will be on the June 7th cruise with you! One more month!!!!