Just back from the Dream. So lovely.

[klbrow11]

Dream- September 5-9, extended veranda
Who: me, husband, mother in law, and an almost 2 year old.

Just a few thoughts..

4 day was too short. Was our first cruise so wanted to just get our toes wet. We LOVE it so felt 4 days was just not long enough.

Staff was great and so attentive. Always trying to make my little one laugh and smile. She was very trying at dinner a night or two but they were very understanding. We did take her out early a few times. Her attention span for dinner was just too short. While they did get our food out pretty promptly she still struggled with an hour meal LOL. Our stateroom host was lovely and so easy to find when we needed him. The fact that the staff called my daughter by name and made a connection with her was wonderful.

We very much enjoyed the food. That being said I'm not the best cook and we are NOT foodies so anything probably tastes great to us. My favorite was the Grand Mariner Souffle. I had a beef dish every single night. Also breakfast steak every morning. And roast beef for lunch when they had it. Seeing a trend?

The only food I did not like was the free soft serve ice cream. It tasted almost sour? Not sure why, but I had to throw it away. We all thought the sodas tasted a little different but I couldn't tell enough to not drink them.

Characters were great and my daughter loved them but was shy so just kinda stood there in awe. Would love if they would have a ticketed event for mickey and friends like the princesses and frozen. Lines were long and I learned quick we had to get there early to see them. We got tickets for princesses and frozen. Only stood in line for mickey and stitch which are my daughters favorites. Other than that she was content seeing the rest in shows.

It felt crowded. All the time. I was prepared for this but it threw my husband off a little. We def found some quieter spots and stayed away from the tiny pools. In fact we did not use the pools at all. The little played in Nemo and loved it but that water was so warm. We also rode the aquaduck a few times when waits were low. It was fun but a little jerky when I road alone and def prefer riding with another person.

We got the rainforest room day package. It was nice to unwind and very relaxing. May or may not do in the future.

I really enjoyed the Golden Mickey and Villains Tonight. BELIEVE had its moments for me and yes I cried at the end but omg the first 15 minutes I was so bored. It got better but was not my favorite. My husband watched the ventriloquist comedian and said he was funny but I missed it.

I thought we would take a ton of photos and we took 26. I was very very glad we did NOT pre-purchase the shutters photos. I'm not a big photo person though. I had it in my head we would do this but looking at the lines I was like naw.

Nassau was blah and we will treat it like a sea day in future. Castaway cay was beautiful and perfect. We were able to sneak away to serenity bay and wow. It is gorgeous. Loved ordering drinks and just enjoying that view.

My daughter was too young for kids clubs but she loved when they had open house. She enjoyed Andy's room and pixie hollow to color. I was glad they had these as it let her get pur some energy.

There just was so much we wanted to do that we didn't have time for. Movies on the deck and theater was one I really wanted to do but couldn't make them mesh with schedule. Also never made it to bingo and some trivia things.

It really was a wonderful cruise and can't wait to go on another. Looking at 2018 for the next!

 

[RysMomma]

We loved it, as well! Did you book your next one onboard? We're thinking 2018 as well and missed out on the discount onboard. Oh well!

 

[BruinEd03]

FYI, I was also on the same cruise. This was our 3rd cruise, but the first time we were on the Dream. A few of my thoughts on the Dream v. Magic/Wonder:

Length of trip: Way too short. We had been on 5 day cruises with the Magic and the wonder. 4 days was just not enough time.

Size: The Dream didn't seem that much bigger in an in-your-face way. It was basically a lot of things that were just a little bit bigger (WD Theater, dining room, rooms, segments of hallways), aside from the atrium. The Atrium was ginormous and the chandelier was amazing. This little bit bigger concept included the room, although to be fair we booked the deluxe oceanview room this time instead of just an oceanview room. However, the porthole was a little bit bigger.The Atrium was ginormous and the chandelier was amazing. The shower had a ceiling and a hand held shower. It also had a sitting area. Definintely better than the Magic/Wonder.

Layout/Accessibility: Did not like this. It was super confusing from the Wonder/Magic. Basically in the Dream, you had to go through certain areas to get places. E.g., to get to Palo you had to get there through an elevator on the 11th floor. You couldn't walk to Palo from the 12th floor. In addition, to get to certain areas, on the 11th floor, you had to go through Cabanas. Furthermore, if you were handicapped, it would be very difficult to get to the deck around the ship. We didn't see a lot of handicap access buttons. Whereas in the Magic/Wonder, you saw them everywhere on the doors to the exterior. The hot spas were pretty unique as they had a clear glass bottom so you could see over the water.

Technical issues: Surprisingly for being such a new ship, we had multiple issues in our room. The toilet would refill and not stop. I had to flush it to get the water to go down and not completely overflow. Had to do it 3 times before it stopped. After calling guest services, they did send someone right away to fix it, and it was resolved. The water also smelled kinda like sewage (didn't complain about it though since it wasn't super overpowering and the water was clear, but you did definitely notice it). Finally, we had hot water issues where it would oscillate between being hot and cold. They finally fixed it on the 2nd to last day, but I couldn't really tell you if it was permanently fixed since we only used it once afterwards. I would expect these issues from the Wonder/Magic, but not from the Dream.

Shops: Much nicer than the Magic/Dream and seemed to have much more variety. Liked this a lot.

Adult areas: The swimming area was smaller than the Magic/wonder. It was an exception to the "little bit bigger" concept. That was really disappointing since we don't have kids. There are plenty of area for the kids. It really seemed like they screwed the adults on this one. Didn't really go to the many bars, but the bars were definitely much more unique than in the Magic/Wonder. Also, one of the elevator banks required you to walk through the adult area. This wouldn't be an issue if the kids didn't linger so much (and the staff let it happen). Not that we dislike kids, but part of the draw of the Disney cruise was having an adults only area.

Water rides: Love the aqua duck more than the aqua dunk. It went from funnel to funnel and back again. You could actually enjoy the scenery instead of just being suddenly dropped and having the ride being over in a second.

Fine Dining: Remy looked interesting and they did a great job with the themeing of the restaurant. Can't say for the food since we didn't eat there. Palo on the other hand, the food was slightly worse than the Magic/Wonder. Furthermore, the themeing, while beautiful was a huge departure from the Magic/Wonder. The Magic/Wonder had hand blown glasses from Venice. It seemed like they just put Palo on the Dream because it was popular, but didn't commit to it like they did with the Magic/Wonder. Understandably the Magic/Wonder were built in Italy, but if you're gonna do Palo, do it right.

Staff Courtesy/Training: Much worse on the Dream than on the Magic/Wonder. Wasn't really happy with our dining staff except for the head server. Felt like the dining staff was pretty new. Furthermore, the trivia people sucked pretty badly. E.g., the sports trivia guy didn't know anything about sports and asked questions wrong. The room cleaning person was nice, but didn't really try to get to know us either (different from the Magic/Wonder).

Crowds: This was where we did notice the size of the Dream. There was a lot more people for everything. E.g. almost every Trivia had a large audience. Same with the shows or shops, etc.

Summary: The Dream has a lot going for it, but don't discount the classic ships Magic/Wonder. The classic ships have some advantages over the new Disney ships.

 

[disneyholic family]

It felt crowded. All the time. I was prepared for this but it threw my husband off a little. We def found some quieter spots and stayed away from the tiny pools.

i've only been on the Dream once, but that was my impression as well - crowded...

i've been on larger ships than the Dream that seemed less crowded, even when carrying capacity...
We were on the Allure of the Seas with a full load of 6,000 passengers and it felt far less crowded than the Dream..
i'm not sure why that is, but it definitely was the feeling i had the entire time..
i enjoyed other aspects of the Dream, but we've decided to stick with the magic/wonder when sailing on DCL...

i wonder how big the new ships will be...and if they'll have better crowd flow than the Dream...

 

[BruinEd03]

i wonder how big the new ships will be...and if they'll have better crowd flow than the Dream...

The new ships will be about the same size as the Dream/Fantasy. However, the new ships will be about 5,000 gross tons larger. (129,690 for the Dream/Fantasy and 135,000 for the new ships). I believe the new ships have the same number of rooms. As for crowd flow, that will probably depend on the layout.

 

[RysMomma]

I did the wonder years ago-at least 12 years ago. It was fun! But I enjoyed the Dream a lot more (but that could be maybe because it was the first and only ship I didn't get sick on!)

As for the new ships, I just hope they have bigger pools and a better deck! That deck was hot when you had to take her shoes off and go on the Aquaduck!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

i've only been on the Dream once, but that was my impression as well - crowded...

i've been on larger ships than the Dream that seemed less crowded, even when carrying capacity...
We were on the Allure of the Seas with a full load of 6,000 passengers and it felt far less crowded than the Dream..
i'm not sure why that is, but it definitely was the feeling i had the entire time..
i enjoyed other aspects of the Dream, but we've decided to stick with the magic/wonder when sailing on DCL...

i wonder how big the new ships will be...and if they'll have better crowd flow than the Dream...

^^^^ This! We have only ever sailed on DCL. Mostly the Wonder because as a family of 5, we could only afford the 4 days cruises. When the Dream came along in 2011, we were super excited and couldn't wait to get on her. It was the worst DCL vacation we ever had. Not that is was horrible. Just worse than any of our Wonder sailings because it was so CROWDED!!! Even the kids noticed and hated it. We have not had any inclination to go back on the Dream. Sailed her once, that was enough. Fortunately, the Magic had the sailing out of NYC in 2012..so that was our next cruise. And now she is going back to NYC in October and we will be on her once again.

We like the smaller ships. My next cruise will be on the Wonder to Alaska. On my bucket list and I hope to have it crossed off by 2018.

 

[klbrow11]

We loved it, as well! Did you book your next one onboard? We're thinking 2018 as well and missed out on the discount onboard. Oh well!

We did put a placeholder down.

 

[klbrow11]

Technical issues: Surprisingly for being such a new ship, we had multiple issues in our room. The toilet would refill and not stop. I had to flush it to get the water to go down and not completely overflow. Had to do it 3 times before it stopped. After calling guest services, they did send someone right away to fix it, and it was resolved. The water also smelled kinda like sewage (didn't complain about it though since it wasn't super overpowering and the water was clear, but you did definitely notice it). Finally, we had hot water issues where it would oscillate between being hot and cold. They finally fixed it on the 2nd to last day, but I couldn't really tell you if it was permanently fixed since we only used it once afterwards. I would expect these issues from the Wonder/Magic, but not from the Dream.

This reminded me. While we didn't have too many issues we did have issues with the room keys at tines. There were often times me and husband went out while grandma watched our little while she napped. Coming. Acknowledge if their room key was being used for lights our keys wouldn't work. Not sure is this is a standard thing or unusual but it was really annoying when we had to knock and potentialy wake up a sleeping toddler.

 

[Dug720]

This reminded me. While we didn't have too many issues we did have issues with the room keys at tines. There were often times me and husband went out while grandma watched our little while she napped. Coming. Acknowledge if their room key was being used for lights our keys wouldn't work. Not sure is this is a standard thing or unusual but it was really annoying when we had to knock and potentialy wake up a sleeping toddler.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the bolded part, but...

You do not HAVE to use the room key. You can use an old hotel room key, an old empty and/or expired gift card from anywhere, or even a heavy card-stock business card.

 

[disneyholic family]

^^^^ This! We have only ever sailed on DCL. Mostly the Wonder because as a family of 5, we could only afford the 4 days cruises. When the Dream came along in 2011, we were super excited and couldn't wait to get on her. It was the worst DCL vacation we ever had. Not that is was horrible. Just worse than any of our Wonder sailings because it was so CROWDED!!! Even the kids noticed and hated it. We have not had any inclination to go back on the Dream. Sailed her once, that was enough. Fortunately, the Magic had the sailing out of NYC in 2012..so that was our next cruise. And now she is going back to NYC in October and we will be on her once again.

We like the smaller ships. My next cruise will be on the Wonder to Alaska. On my bucket list and I hope to have it crossed off by 2018.

DD just got off the magic (in barcelona)....she said it was fantastic....not crowded...really wonderful...
she likes small ships for another reason - you have a better chance of running into the same people, and thereby getting to know them..
she befriended lots of people on this cruise...she feels that it's more difficult on the bigger ships..

 

[Shanti]

As for the new ships, I just hope they have bigger pools and a better deck! That deck was hot when you had to take her shoes off and go on the Aquaduck!

Just fyi for the future, you can keep water shoes on for the Aqua Duck. I asked and was allowed on wearing my Tevas, which are quite sturdy and thick water sandals.