just booked a 4 night Disney Dream cruise!! (woo hoo)

[disneyholic family]

as the title says, i just booked a 4 night Disney Dream cruise!!

i haven't been on the Dream yet - only on the Wonder.

i'm taking my mom and sister on this cruise, so it will be a bit different than the wonder cruises with DH, DD, and DS....

my mom has never been on a cruise and my sister has only been on 1, on RCCL, and HATED it!!

let's hope it was RCCL that she didn't like and not all cruising..

so those of you who have been on the Disney Dream, did you enjoy it?

did you feel the masses of people on board? i mean, 4,000 or whatever the number is, is a whole lot of people..

was it difficult to get seats in the theater?
do they have any reserved seating in the theater?

both my mom and sister have some difficulty getting around (due to side effects of chemo), so i won't be able to race to the theater to save seats or anything like that..

gosh i'm starting to worry myself....
i wonder if i made a mistake....hmmm...

by the way, i've booked us into concierge as i thought it might be a bit quieter in the concierge area...

has anyone been on a cruise in late October? what's the weather like?

 

[wayneg]

Hope your Sister likes it, we have cruised RCCL a couple if times, Disney 6 times, I don't find a massive difference so if she didn't like RCCL it could be just cruising she dislikes. Some things were better on RCCL, some better on DCL. Obviously the theming and big Mice & dogs etc running around are the big difference.

Dream compared to other ships, personally I prefer the Magic/Wonder. Dream, food a bit too arty(probably more your taste, I know you enjoy finer dining) Adult pool far too small, steps to outer decks become gridlocked at events like Pirate night. No good area to have a quiet drink if you have under 18's(or is it 21?) In Palo a constant thud from the Basketball court above.
All little things but I prefer the older ships.

No trouble getting seats in theatre but we got there around time they opened the doors(30 mins before?) we would get seats then send Matt to the room for new navigator, get fleeces etc, CM would come around every time warning about saving seats and give us 10 mins before they filled the seats for us, never did but they were trying to look strict.

Done over half our cruises in Oct, still good in Florida even better further south, wouldn't hesitate to book Oct again.

 

[disneyholic family]

Hope your Sister likes it, we have cruised RCCL a couple if times, Disney 6 times, I don't find a massive difference so if she didn't like RCCL it could be just cruising she dislikes. Some things were better on RCCL, some better on DCL. Obviously the theming and big Mice & dogs etc running around are the big difference.

Dream compared to other ships, personally I prefer the Magic/Wonder. Dream, food a bit too arty(probably more your taste, I know you enjoy finer dining) Adult pool far too small, steps to outer decks become gridlocked at events like Pirate night. No good area to have a quiet drink if you have under 18's(or is it 21?) In Palo a constant thud from the Basketball court above.
All little things but I prefer the older ships.

No trouble getting seats in theatre but we got there around time they opened the doors(30 mins before?) we would get seats then send Matt to the room for new navigator, get fleeces etc, CM would come around every time warning about saving seats and give us 10 mins before they filled the seats for us, never did but they were trying to look strict.

Done over half our cruises in Oct, still good in Florida even better further south, wouldn't hesitate to book Oct again.

thanks Wayne!
good to hear october was ok..
part of the reason i booked the 4 night - i figured if we miss CC, they can try again on the sea day...

arty? not sure what you mean...in terms of the look of the ship, she looks like the wonder - nice classic lines......though i think the wonder is prettier, since she really looks like the old classic ocean liners..

i've heard that being on deck 12 makes it a bit easier to access pirate night...
i hope that's true...

where is a good place to sit in the theater? my mom is going blind -though hopefully she'll still have some sight left by then....so i guess we should sit closer rather than further away...
i'll have to keep them on a tight leash to get them to the theater when the doors open....if i were on my own, i'd always be there at door opening (but then you saw me at DHS, i'm a bit psycho that way)...

i'm planning on us eating at the palo brunch (so i guess that will include basketball overhead), but not for dinner i don't think....
and i think we'll pass on remy.....
although i did love V&A and people have compared it to V&A, so maybe...

we had a problem on the wonder with DD - she was too old for the teen club so she had to hang out with us....kinda boring...she would have had fun had she had a friend with her...DS was in the teen club and had a spectacular time...
DD is going on an RCCL cruise this summer (alaska), but she has a built in companion this time - her husband!

getting back to my sister - i think the reason she hated the RCCL cruise were the lines....she said they had to stand in line for everything...
and making it even worse, the majority of guests weren't your typical stand in line americans.....this was a cruise out of miami....i've heard that the guests out of miami aren't the best at standing in line...

so i guess that made it particularly unpleasant to have a couple of thousand people pushing to get ahead.....i probably would have hated it too...

i'm hoping it will be better on DCL....
i'm trying to make it easier....concierge and i'll try for a cabana on CC....
so that should insulate us a bit...but still we'll have to come out of the bubble for the restaurants and the shows...

gosh, i should probably have my head examined for doing this...
but i'm hoping it will be wonderful....you never know...it might be ok...

 

[wayneg]

Have a look at the meals we had in my Photbucket account from last year, you will see which are on the cruise.
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/wayneg1/August 2011/?start=all

They are more interested in it looking like a piece of art than giving you a meal. A small pile of food, a few bits of veg, a drizzle of sauce. A bit like signature dining, looks OK on the plate but need 2 entrees to make a decent meal. Plus using strange flavours, I can't stand wasabi. It doesn't matter too much on a cruise as I ordered 2 entrees every meal, I am just not one for fine dining, nice big steak pile of chips I am far happier.
See pics from Magic in 2009, meals far more substantial and far more enjoyable but maybe not to others. http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/wayneg1/Disney Cruise Aug 09/?start=all

I sound like I didn't enjoy the Dream, far from it, we had a great time and if I had nothing to compare to I doubt I could fault much but I just enjoyed the older ships more. I wouldn't hesitate to go on it again at the right price, just a little too expensive for me in Ajuly/Aug now.

Yes just sit as close as you can get.

You will have a great time.

 

[disneyholic family]

Have a look at the meals we had in my Photbucket account from last year, you will see which are on the cruise.
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/wayneg1/August 2011/?start=all

They are more interested in it looking like a piece of art than giving you a meal. A small pile of food, a few bits of veg, a drizzle of sauce. A bit like signature dining, looks OK on the plate but need 2 entrees to make a decent meal. Plus using strange flavours, I can't stand wasabi. It doesn't matter too much on a cruise as I ordered 2 entrees every meal, I am just not one for fine dining, nice big steak pile of chips I am far happier.
See pics from Magic in 2009, meals far more substantial and far more enjoyable but maybe not to others. http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/wayneg1/Disney Cruise Aug 09/?start=all

I sound like I didn't enjoy the Dream, far from it, we had a great time and if I had nothing to compare to I doubt I could fault much but I just enjoyed the older ships more. I wouldn't hesitate to go on it again at the right price, just a little too expensive for me in Ajuly/Aug now.

Yes just sit as close as you can get.

You will have a great time.

thanks for the picture links!

i see what you mean...

you might be surprised to hear that i much prefer the big servings to the fussy plates...i actually hate all that fussiness...
the only time it was ok was at V&A, when it tasted as good as it looked, although i wish the servings were much larger there....i like coming out of a restaurant STUFFED...

i really have pretty simple tastes..
one of my favorite meals at WDW is the veggie burger at the sci fi...
i eat fish, i just don't eat meat....i've never liked meat, even as a child...
but i love things like fish and chips....so not exactly healthy or fussy...

so you can order two entrees? i might do that...or maybe two appetizers and multiple sides....i like lots and lots and lots and lots of cooked vegetables...not the 3 pea pods on a plate that they seem to serve on the dream - at least in your pictures.....

i remember the servings on the wonder were so large, we never even ordered dessert...we were too stuffed...

but i'm sure there won't be a shortage of food on the dream...

i see you did the palo brunch on the dream and on the magic..
how did they compare?
we really enjoyed the palo brunch on the wonder...

 

[wayneg]

so you can order two entrees? i might do that...or maybe two appetizers and multiple sides....i like lots and lots and lots and lots of cooked vegetables...not the 3 pea pods on a plate that they seem to serve on the dream - at least in your pictures.....

but i'm sure there won't be a shortage of food on the dream...

i see you did the palo brunch on the dream and on the magic..
how did they compare?
we really enjoyed the palo brunch on the wonder...

Order as many as you want, there isn't a night goes by without me ordering 2 or 1 and sharing a 2nd with Matt. Your server is there to make sure you get exactly what you want, if you want a plate of veg tell him/her, you can have as much or as liitle of anything on the menu, if its not on the menu and you fancy something tell them, if its on the ship they will get it, I once wanted a slice of cheescake, he went to the other side of the ship to get me a slice.
They want you to get off that ship and tell everyone how fantastic the food was, even though the Dream food was not exactly to what I like I could not fault it because they brought everything I asked for. If you get off a Disney cruise not happy IMO its your own fault for not telling them.
On the Magic I once almost ordered a 3rd Entree, Lobster, delicious, I really wish I could have eaten a 3rd
Plus you know how it works, they keep you happy, you tip more

Certainly no shortage although that was another downside on the Dream, opening times of the food kiosks never seems to work for us, always closed when we wanted anything, had to use 24 hr room service instead

Palo was just as good on Magic & Dream, outstanding.

 

[disneyholic family]

Order as many as you want, there isn't a night goes by without me ordering 2 or 1 and sharing a 2nd with Matt. Your server is there to make sure you get exactly what you want, if you want a plate of veg tell him/her, you can have as much or as liitle of anything on the menu, if its not on the menu and you fancy something tell them, if its on the ship they will get it, I once wanted a slice of cheescake, he went to the other side of the ship to get me a slice.
They want you to get off that ship and tell everyone how fantastic the food was, even though the Dream food was not exactly to what I like I could not fault it because they brought everything I asked for. If you get off a Disney cruise not happy IMO its your own fault for not telling them.
On the Magic I once almost ordered a 3rd Entree, Lobster, delicious, I really wish I could have eaten a 3rd
Plus you know how it works, they keep you happy, you tip more

Certainly no shortage although that was another downside on the Dream, opening times of the food kiosks never seems to work for us, always closed when we wanted anything, had to use 24 hr room service instead

Palo was just as good on Magic & Dream, outstanding.

someone posted a menu and i noticed lobster and king crab - my mom will be in seventh heaven!!!

i just remembered DH did what you did...i completely forgot....our last cruise was about 7 years ago so i didn't remember...
he did order double entrees for dinner...how did i forget..

and for breakfast - we went to tritons for the sit down breakfast every morning except when we did the palo brunch..
at the sit down breakfast, DH literally ordered everything on the menu...
the funniest thing i ever saw.....
i'm not kidding...he actually ordered everything on the menu..
some sort of eggs, cold cereal, bagel/lox/cream cheese (he ordered 3 helpings of that), pancakes or mickey waffles (i can't remember), half a grapefruit (i guess he thought that would make up for all the other 'bad' food), etc etc

he ordered at least one from every group of foods....and as i said, 3 orders of bagels/lox/cream cheese..

and worse, he ate it all.....every bit of it....all of it...

and he did that every morning....and then on the sea day, you don't want to know what he ate at palos....

and the worst of it???

he lost weight on the cruise...

don't you just HATE him??????????????????????

 

[disneyholic family]

i just read a review of remy - i'm not sure i'm willing to take 3 hours out of my very few evenings on board the ship for the sake of a meal like that.

 

[wayneg]

i just read a review of remy - i'm not sure i'm willing to take 3 hours out of my very few evenings on board the ship for the sake of a meal like that.

I don't see the point in paying $75pp extra when you are going to miss out on a regular meal. OK on a 7+ night cruise when you do the restaurants multiple times, even then I couldn't part with $75pp myself. Palo Brunch is enough for me.

 

[disneyholic family]

I don't see the point in paying $75pp extra when you are going to miss out on a regular meal. OK on a 7+ night cruise when you do the restaurants multiple times, even then I couldn't part with $75pp myself. Palo Brunch is enough for me.

i agree - $75 is a LOT of money!! clearly, there are many people willing to pay it, but i'm not. True, i paid $125 to eat at V&A, but i wasn't giving up something else to eat there.

i looked at some sample navigators, and no matter what night i might pick, i'd be missing out on a lot of activities to eat at remy.

by the way, do you happen to know the show schedule on the 4 night cruise?
actually, i don't even know what the shows are on the dream - other than Villains.

 

[disneyholic family]

the navigators..
i love planning!!

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-stateroom-navigator.htm

 

[wayneg]

by the way, do you happen to know the show schedule on the 4 night cruise?
actually, i don't even know what the shows are on the dream - other than Villains.

I don't remember in which order but links to shows here.
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/entertainment/golden-mickeys/

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/entertainment/believe/

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/entertainment/villains-tonight/