Just off the Dream Feb 20-Feb 24!!

[gabby0102]

Hi Dissers!!!

Just returned home from a wonderful trip on the Disney Dream! Let me tell you that she is even more beautiful in person-pictures can't do her justice!!

We had a fantastic trip! Just a few highlights-more to follow, when the laundry is done, the groceries are bought, etc etc etc!!!

Our Cabin - We booked a category 11C guarantee and were assigned a category 11C. We were completely happy with that and not concerned about getting an upgrade-we are only in our room to sleep and get ready for dinner, so saving money on the cabin is important to us. We were on Deck 2-absolutely loved the location!! Easy walk to all the restaurants, the theatres, shopping, off the ship, etc. The only times we took the elevators were up to Deck 11 to the pools. Our cabin was extremely quiet-never heard anyone around us or in the hallways. Again, we were never there except to sleep, but noise wasn't a problem when we were sleeping!! Our cabin was a connecting cabin and we never heard a peep out of the people next door either!!

We are a family of 4-mom, dad, and 2 sons-aged 13 and 10. When we were all there at the same time trying to get ready for dinner, the cabin felt extremely SMALL!!! If you're in an 11C, just be prepared-it's small and tough to move around in if you're all trying to get dressed at the same time!! We could have avoided any issues if we would have come in at different times to get ready, but we all wanted to be out as much as possible and come in to get ready at the last possible second!! So, the size of the cabin was not really an issue for us-just don't want anybody to be surprised!!!

Loved being able to stow all the bags under the bed! Had plenty of hangers in the closets. Used shelves in the closets and the storage in the ottoman to supplement the shelf space and we had plenty of room for all of our stuff!! And my husband will tell you, we took a lot of stuff!!!! Ok, maybe not plenty of room, but we had room for it all!!! The best packing tip I ever heard was take twice as much underwear as you think you'll need, and half as many shirts-wish I had followed it!!!

The pool areas
The pool areas were crowded!! I am an early riser and got up every morning for breakfast and coffee by the pool. A lot of people stayed on board the ship on the Nassau day-more than on any other cruise I've been on- but my friend and I found a couple of chairs by the pool to lounge in and read all day! But the day at sea..... that's another story!! I got up at the same time as I did every other day-7:45ish-and when I got up to Deck 11, every single chair was saved!!! I walked into the pool area and just started laughing-I am telling you the truth that every single chair had a towel on it!!! Only a couple had any additional personal items on them, so for a minute I thought the cast members had laid out towels for people to enjoy for the day! I even asked one of the cast members-but he confirmed that passengers had done it to save their chairs!!

I wandered all over the pool deck and finally found a chair on the other side of the deck-the only chair that hadn't been saved!!- and dragged it out into the sun. I braced myself for the crowd that I expected to find in Cabanas-I mean, all of these people had come up to grab their chairs and then gone to breakfast-right???? There were maybe 10 people in Cabanas!!!! I grabbed my breakfast and my coffee and took it back outside to eat in peace and quiet, cause there were very few people sitting in all of these chairs that they had saved!!! I then watched in amusement as person after person came up to Deck 11 for the first time that day and found that every single chair was saved. There was even a chair beside me that had a beach bag, tshirt, and book on it. I was in my chair until 4:30 that day and the person who put their stuff on it never sat in that chair the entire day!!! This isn't unique to the Dream-it's happened on other ships I've been on and even at resorts I've stayed at!! Just annoying!!! Don't let this ruin your trip, just be prepared and make the best of it!!!! And remember, it's always better than being at work!!!

That's all for now!!! More to follow-if you have any quick questions I'd be happy to try to answer them!!!

 

[gabby0102]

Dining - Turns out I've got a few more minutes so wanted to post info on dining. We had no issues with service on the ship-our server was a Disney veteran and he was awesome. His assistant was brand new-not only to Disney but to cruise ships-but she was delightful and went out of her way to make sure we were happy. We had early dining and we were almost the last ones out of the dining room every night, but that was our fault, not the servers!! There were 13 of us altogether and we talked and laughed and were just generally slow!!! Our sever never made us feel rushed, even though I'm sure he needed us to get out of there to get ready for the next seating!!! Food was good-the portions were a little small so the men that we travelled with just ordered 2 of something-appetizer, entree-whatever appealed to them. None of it went to waste-they ate every single bite and it gave them an opportunity to try new things!!! The truth of the matter is that the portions were probably the size we should be eating but everybody is so used to overeating all of the time that they seemed small!!!

We didn't try Remy or Palo so I can't speak to them-we had done Palo before on the Wonder so were happy to stick with the main dining rooms on this cruise!

 

[MickeyMaz]

First, Welcome back. This was such a Great report to find. We are going in June and have the same family size and the same level cabin as you had. So your insights are really good to read to get ready for our trip. Please let me know a little more about the cabin and the kids expereinces in the clubs. Also, anything more about the dining around the ship and just what your daily schedule was like.

Thanks again for the report.

 

[gabby0102]

Shows - we had early dining and an assigned show time of 9:00. Went to 2 of the shows at 5:00 instead of our assigned 9:00 - just worked better for us with some of the other things we wanted to do. Never had a problem walking right in and getting a seat! "Believe" was fantastic!! Also saw a family show that was a comedian/juggler and had no problem getting a seat for that as well.

My kids saw a couple of movies in the Buena Vista theatre. Tron, Gnomeo and Juliet, and I Am Number 4 were showing. Lot of fun to be among the first to see I am Number 4! Beautiful venue!

The boys really enjoyed the sports deck! They played putt putt several times, basketball, and pingpong. The day at sea was obviously the most crowded, but they only waited in line about 10 minutes for putt putt! Because they were looking out over the ocean, they really didn't even notice they were waiting in line-it was no big deal!!!

My oldest son went to Vibe and the younger went to the Edge. Both were really cool and a lot of fun! Even though they don't check them in/check them out, they knew they were there!!! They are both a couple of months younger than the minimum age to be in each club but the staff let them in with my approval. We were traveling with their friends families and they all wanted to be together. I went by the first afternoon and talked to the club staff and gave my permission for my 10 year old-will be 11 in May to be in Edge with his friend- and my 13 year old-will be 14 in June-to be in Vibe with his friend. The staff also had to approve it-because they were just a couple of months away from their birthdays AND were traveling with friends, they accomodated the request. When each of the boys went to the club the first time, the staff asked their names and then checked the list to make sure they were ok to be there. I was glad, and surprised-they kept up with it as much as they did. The boys kind of drifted in and out of the clubs. They thought they were really fun, but there were a lot of other things they wanted to do so didn't spend a whole lot of time there!

What can you say about the Aquaduck??? So much fun!!! We all rode it several times the first day, and my youngest son rode it 2 nights. On the Nassau day it was open late at night, and he rode it, ran around and got right back on, and rode it again many times!!! It was also open Castaway Cay night after the pirate party and he rode it a couple of times then. I rode it at night as well and I highly recommend it. Really fun to be on it when it's lit up at night!! It's not too fast so even if you don't like thrill rides, you'll still be fine!!! On the day at sea the line was a little long so the boys didn't ride it then. Around 5:20 I noticed that the line had gone down so grabbed one of the kids we were traveling with and got her to ride with me one last time! Probably waited around 20 minutes so it wasn't bad!! If you really like the ride, I would suggest riding it as much as possible earlier in the trip-then you just don't have to worry about the lines on the sea day!!! It can be a little breezy when you get off the ride so you may want to leave your towel close by!!! Didn't get back to the cabin til about 5:46 so just threw on some clothes, pulled my wet hair back and went to dinner!!! Proved to be a pretty good way to keep the cabin from being too crowded while we were getting ready for dinner-I just didn't bother!!!!

The grownups did a martini tasting on the Nassau day. It was a lot of fun!!! We actually went back to Meridian, the bar where they do the tasting, on Pirate's night after dinner, and order chocolate martinis-one of the martinis we tasted. Meridians has an outside area and we sat outside, enjoyed the sea breeze and the stars, and drank our martinis. It was absolutely perfect-we were the only ones there!!!! While we were sitting there they shot off the fireworks-how cool is that???? It was a perfect viewing area, and some of the diners in Palo came outside with us to watch the fireworks when they heard them going off!

 

[gabby0102]

Hi MickeyMaz! You are going to have such a great time-I'm so excited for you and your family!! We truly don't spend any time in our cabin except random times here and there and to sleep at night, so the 11C was just perfect for us. The boys went to the cabin a couple of afternoons to chill with their friends, catch 30 minutes of a movie, and order room service. Of course, the size didn't bother them at all!!! And it truly didn't bother my husband and I at all except the first night. I was trying to unpack and we were all 4 in there at the same time trying to get ready for dinner(we were running late cause we stayed at the pool deck playing too long) I think all of us were yelling at some point during the process, and I finally told my youngest son to just stand in the hall and I'd let him in when it was his turn to get dressed!!! It could have all been avoided if we had just staggered our dressing times, but no way anybody was coming in early to get dressed!!! So, my advice is just figure out what works best for your family! If somebody doesn't mind coming in a little early to get ready and then clear out so the others will have more space, you won't have a problem! After the first night I approached it a whole different way. I sent them downstairs to get dressed, raced in at the last possible second, threw on my clothes and pulled my hair back, and sprayed on some perfume!!! I'm pretty low maintenance and just really wanted to be out enjoying the ship instead of spending my time in the room getting dressed!!!

 

[Evan&Kimberly]

I love your review, I am so glad that you and your family had a great time, your such a sweetie, I say this because if I was at the pool that early I would have not been as nice as you. The problem with CHOGS is that they control the pool area and they are not even there. If you are physically there to use the pool area then that trumps the empty chair with the saved towels. If your towel is there and the CHOGS body is not in the pool area then it's not their chair. Lucky for the CHOGS I don’t use the pool! Thanks again for the great report!

 

[gabby0102]

Evan&Kimberly!! That made me laugh out loud!!! Trust me, I had already picked out the chair that I was about to claim as my own when I found the 1 and only unoccupied chair on the entire 11th deck!!! I had every intention of kindly, and with love, removing the towel from a primo chair that I wanted and then plopping myself and all of my stuff in it, like it was a throne!!!!!! When the hogger finally sauntered back up at 11:30ish to claim their perch I was going to smile very sweetly and act like I had no idea what they were talking about-"what do you mean, that was your chair????"

 

[tessasmom]

I totally agree with EvanandKimberly! If I were you I would have waited a bit and if nobody sat in that chair, I'd have taken it! That is just rude & inconsiderate!! So beware 9/11 Dream cruisers!! I will take the chair if there is no human in it!!

 

[KayW]

We were on the same trip!!! Loved it! We were one of the families who stayed on in Nassau. Been there done that. Did Aquaduck in the morning, had a nice lunch at RP, and enjoyed the ship. My DD6 loved the kids club and the movies.

Next year I'll have to remember about Meridian for the fireworks, although I am sure DD won't be able to come in.

Kerrie

 

[2disneycruzrs]

Thanks so much for posting - I so appreciate the quick review! I don't understand why DCL won't do anything about CHOGS. I'm with other posters that I would just take the chair.

 

[catzle]

I think the CM should of done something. If all the chairs just had a towel, he or she should of taken them all off!!

 

[SunshineChaser38]

Thanks for sharing Gabby! It sounds like for the most part everything was fantastic! My boyfriend and I are only doing the 3 night cruise so I was hesistant to book at Palo or Remy, since then we could fully experience RAE, but your review on Palo has swayed me. I have a question about the maritini tasting you did, was there an extra cost associated? I was pretty sure there was but now I have read conflicting reports saying, the mixology was free and the wine and whiskey tastings were $12. Thanks for your help!

 

[gabby0102]

Hi SunshineChaser, There's a charge of $15 per person for any of the tastings-on our Dream cruise they had wine, whiskey, martini, and a mixology class. When we were trying to decide which one to do, we went to guest services and asked the cost of each-each was $15. Figured martini was something I don't usually drink so would be fun to try something different. We tasted 4 different mini martinis-the chocolate one was amazing!! It was so good that we found the bartender who taught the class in the outlook bar that night and got him to make us a full size one!

 

[natt]

I'm sorry, but I believe that "chair SAVING" should require at least one person there to save a maximum of Two additional chairs beside the one they are taking up. I realize it's hard for any resort/ship to patrol, but it's ridiculous for anyone to expect a chair or set of chairs to still be available after several hours of touring or whatnot... even Disney knows that much about "the system"

Seriously.. can't we all decide what time of day we expect to be looking to catch some rays and just allow ourselves 2hrs of taking up a chair at any given sun movement? We've all paid for this cruise and all want the best time of our time that we have.. can't we just be adult and share and only use things when we're actually REALLY using them???

 

[gabby0102]

Well said Natt!!!

 

[mickeyluv]

I totally agree with EvanandKimberly! If I were you I would have waited a bit and if nobody sat in that chair, I'd have taken it! That is just rude & inconsiderate!! So beware 9/11 Dream cruisers!! I will take the chair if there is no human in it!!

Me too!!

 

[BeautyFan]

Gabby, love love love your report! Can't wait til July when it's our turn!

As far as the deck chairs, perhaps they should have a maitre'd to seat people like they are doing at Cabanas now..."I'll have a pool chair in the sun for two, please"