Just off the Dream 9/23/16...a couple of notes

[Bishoparc]

Had another great cruise on the Dream, did our first 4 night (normally have done 3 nighters). There were just a couple of things I thought my fellow DIS'ers might find interesting:

• The Wave phones have been upgraded to new ones. They are as light as the old ones but the bonus is they actually have belt clips!
  
  
• I know they had the Princess Royal Tea Party elsewhere but they announced on our cruise that it was now available on the Dream (supposedly this cruise was the first time it was available on the Dream). If you wanted to participate you were directed to guest services.
• The only Navigator that was multi-page was the first day. The rest of the days were just the single (two-sided) schedule page (I'll try to get them scanned in later this weekend).
• There weren't daily spa specials available in the Navigator except for the first day. The rest of the days they just advertised the same thing over and over. They have a new Doctor onboard that is offering another one of those miracle fat loss type things, that was just the special every day. (Of course if you go up there, they'll find something else to offer you.)
• In another thread I had mentioned that one of my friends had cruised week before I did and had seen a sign saying that you couldn't use personal cups. While I didn't see it in Cabanas, there is in fact a sign at all of the pool deck drink stations that says "Please Do Not Use Personal Bottles or Cups For Refill of Beverages". The way I take this is that they want you to use one of their fresh cups to refill yours.
  
  
• There is now a Shutters Portrait Studio that has taken over the left side of the art gallery. You can now schedule a "professional" portrait session. (We didn't do it but it's there.)
• The best time to ride the AquaDuck is definitely Pirate Night. We went after dinner and rode it over and over again with literally no wait. Just go down, climb the stairs and repeat.
• Captain-Thord, Cruise Director-Jimmy, Club Host-Anthony
• The variety act was John Cassidy, a comedian/magician/balloon artist.
• Silver Castaway Gift was the burlap bag
• The extra purchase gift when you spend $50+ in the store is a leatherette backpack (pretty nice) for $19.99
  
• Debarkation started for express walkoff at 7:03AM, all guests were cleared by 7:20AM.
• We overheard that they were having their regularly scheduled dining health inspections this morning when we got off this morning so the restaurants should be extra clean lol
• On Nassau day they did an extended safety drill for the crew. They do this every so often so services were a little limited in the morning times. They basically had the muster drill all over again (just for the crew) and then did a couple of other drills. It makes me feel good to know they practice this in detail. At Castaway Cay, they were also doing additional crew training on rescuing people from the water (this training did not impact services available).

One other note, we did try the Palo brunch. The food was very good. They have a cold item buffet with cheeses, seafood, breads, deserts, etc. and then you also can order your entrees for the $30/pp price.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

In another thread I had mentioned that one of my friends had cruised week before I did and had seen a sign saying that you couldn't use personal cups. While I didn't see it in Cabanas, there is in fact a sign at all of the pool deck drink stations that says "Please Do Not Use Personal Bottles or Cups For Refill of Beverages". The way I take this is that they want you to use one of their fresh cups to refill yours.

Thank you for this. Do you mind if I save this picture to my files?

 

[Bishoparc]

Do you mind if I save this picture to my files?

Not at all, we're all here to help each other! I'm trying to reach back in my memory, I almost remember something like this being posted earlier in the year but I'm not positive. I remember there being something about bottles, I'm almost positive but I could be wrong.

 

[TestingH2O]

In another thread I had mentioned that one of my friends had cruised week before I did and had seen a sign saying that you couldn't use personal cups. While I didn't see it in Cabanas, there is in fact a sign at all of the pool deck drink stations that says "Please Do Not Use Personal Bottles or Cups For Refill of Beverages". The way I take this is that they want you to use one of their fresh cups to refill yours.

The placement of the new sign is something else. I mean, if people ignore the one glued to the machine, are they suddenly going to adhere to the one in the lucite frame?

On Nassau day they did an extended safety drill for the crew. They do this every so often so services were a little limited in the morning times. They basically had the muster drill all over again (just for the crew) and then did a couple of other drills. It makes me feel good to know they practice this in detail. At Castaway Cay, they were also doing additional crew training on rescuing people from the water (this training did not impact services available).

They've done this every day we've been in Nassau. The announcements are a bit annoying but I'm also glad to know it's so frequent.

 

[Bree]

Great to hear John Cassidy is still performing! We saw him on the Magic last year and loved him! My daughter still has her magic wands and fortune telling fish.

 

[tgarre06]

Is the royal tea party an additional cost?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Is the royal tea party an additional cost?

Oh, yes. Well, pretty sure it would - it is on the Fantasy.

Scott has the info:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2016/09/royal-court-royal-tea-expanding-disney-dream/

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Thanks for the photos!

 

[BruinEd03]

• In another thread I had mentioned that one of my friends had cruised week before I did and had seen a sign saying that you couldn't use personal cups. While I didn't see it in Cabanas, there is in fact a sign at all of the pool deck drink stations that says "Please Do Not Use Personal Bottles or Cups For Refill of Beverages". The way I take this is that they want you to use one of their fresh cups to refill yours.
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• Captain-Thord, Cruise Director-Jimmy, Club Host-Anthony
• On Nassau day they did an extended safety drill for the crew. They do this every so often so services were a little limited in the morning times. They basically had the muster drill all over again (just for the crew) and then did a couple of other drills. It makes me feel good to know they practice this in detail. At Castaway Cay, they were also doing additional crew training on rescuing people from the water (this training did not impact services available).

Those signs were there when we cruised on 9/4/16, too.
Also, interesting that Jimmy was the cruise director. It was Trent just a couple of weeks ago.
They also did the extended safety drill for the crew at Nassau. Also, we saw other cruise ships do it in Nassau, too.

 

[Dug720]

Those signs were there when we cruised on 9/4/16, too.
Also, interesting that Jimmy was the cruise director. It was Trent just a couple of weeks ago.
They also did the extended safety drill for the crew at Nassau. Also, we saw other cruise ships do it in Nassau, too.

The CDs are on rotating contracts as well - and I know with a few positions on ships they will swing people between them mid-contract. So either Trent was at the end of his contract a couple of weeks ago or he is being swung between ships. (Or I guess the possibility exists that there was some kind of emergency he had to take leave for - but more likely one of the first two scenarios.)

 

[Bishoparc]

They also did the extended safety drill for the crew at Nassau. Also, we saw other cruise ships do it in Nassau, too.

If I heard them correctly, they do it every 2 weeks. It's good to know they keep in practice.

 

[ceecee]

We must have been on the same cruise. I saw the drink signs, but a lot of people were refilling and using their own glasses/mugs (including us! We did fill them w/a new one, but it felt very wasteful). We rode the Aquaduck twice with no line after Castaway Cay, we came back around 2:00. Loved the "Believe" show and John Cassidy was good as well. Didn't care for Nassau and the shopping thing the first day was too long!!! Will not do that again.
We thought the food was so-so but not great. Our host was terrific on deck 10. There was a medical emergency at 5:00 am and it came in on our room speaker, really scared us! It seems they would have another way to call for medical personnel.

 

[Bishoparc]

There was a medical emergency at 5:00 am and it came in on our room speaker

Yup, we were on the same one lol

 

[hanscarlet]

Omg solo excited about the royal princess tea!!! So do others know if we can book this ahead of time online?

 

[hanscarlet]

Also do you all think there is a chance they are going to start enforcing the "no personal cups " rule more rigorously? Like stop people in the act?

For health reasons I completely support this rule. But it seems like it would invite a lot more paper cup use and waste

 

[dcassetta]

Omg solo excited about the royal princess tea!!! So do others know if we can book this ahead of time online?

You can book it online if you're sailing on the Fantasy, so I would assume the other ships would have it also. It's under the onboard activities, in the same place where you find the meet and greets.

 

[hanscarlet]

You can book it online if you're sailing on the Fantasy, so I would assume the other ships would have it also. It's under the onboard activities, in the same place where you find the meet and greets.

Great thank you! If I recall its expensive right ? Like $200/kid? Oh well that's better than BBB imo

 

[Bishoparc]

Also do you all think there is a chance they are going to start enforcing the "no personal cups " rule more rigorously

Oddly enough, the sign was only at the drink stations on the pool deck, not in Cabanas. However, there has always been the sign in Cabanas that says "Please use a fresh cup for refills". Others were using theirs, we used ours, no one said a thing. If you notice the wording of the signs it says "for refills". They are trying to discourage people from refilling their cups once it's been used so unless someone is standing there watching to see if you're doing a refill vs. a fresh fill of your cup you've washed, they'll have a hard time enforcing it. It all goes back to the health thing, just like the handing out of wipes to clean your hands before going in. It's all about trying to ensure that germs aren't transferred around.

So do others know if we can book this ahead of time online?

It was not available to book on this cruise for us ahead of time and it does not currently show available on our November cruise either. My guess is it is too new currently to pre-book on the Dream. The way they made it sound it was almost like they were "testing" it so it may be a bit before you see it available to pre-book online.

 

[dcassetta]

Great thank you! If I recall its expensive right ? Like $200/kid? Oh well that's better than BBB imo

I've never done it personally, but I think you're right on the price. However, I think that it includes quite a few gifts for the kids, and obviously a really special meet and greet opportunity with the princesses.

 

[hanscarlet]

Oh refills versus a fresh glass, I do see the difference health wise (assuming personal glass is fresh and clean), good point