idreamaway
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2010
- Messages
- 113
We just got back to dry land this morning after four beautiful days onboard the Dream. I won't post an entire TR; I just don't have the time. But I will try my hardest to answer any questions and post a few interesting tidbits of info I learned/experienced.
1) The majority of the crew is already in the process of changing over, especially the dining staff. On February 26 and March 6, there will be two big overhauls. Originally, they "over-hired" for server and assistant server positions. They kept the "over-hires" on for training until mid-January, then sent them home. The "newbies" were given shorter contracts so the "over-hires" can get some work in. They will be back at the end of this month, and the beginning of next month -- as will some more experienced servers who are just beginning their time on the Disney Dream. So good news is that the majority of the brand new servers will be gone by the beginning of March. The bad news is that we'll be getting more.
As for our servers, we did not have a problem at all. We requested our Head Server and he made sure we were taken care of. Our server had spent five previous years on the Magic. Our assistant server was new, but learning the ropes quickly. We had no complaints about our team - they were fantastic, but we heard about others who had A LOT of complaints about their teams.
Cruise staff will also be changing up a lot in the coming weeks. They have a good mix of new blood and old favorites, and while they're not as involved in adult activities (more on that later) as they are on the classic ships, they were still an incredibly personable and fun group. Their contracts are widely staggered, again, with the newbies having shorter contracts than the experienced Cruise Staffers. One CM I spoke to in particular is expecting a baby, and will leave on March 6 when she reaches her 24th week. She was just excited to be on the ship for as long as she could!
2) A LOT of new Cast Members have already quit and terminated their contracts. It seems like a lot of people signed up unaware of what they were getting themselves into and found that they couldn't handle it, which is understandable. There are CMs who say that the general loyalty to the brand amongst crew is not what it used to be on the classics, and they're working on that.
3) They are aware of [at least some] design flaws in the ship. The officer I spoke to mentioned the QC area and Shutters specifically. He also said that there were already engineers and officers who were in/on their way to/already back from Papenburg and the Celebration offices making and aiding with design changes for the Fantasy. This is not to say that the QC area and Shutters on the Fantasy will change, but those are the areas he mentioned, so I'm putting two and two together.
4) The remaining 2012 itineraries will be released VERY shortly. By April 1, for the Magic and Wonder, and possibly as early as March 1 for the Dream and Fantasy. They, apparently, are just waiting on port clearances for the Magic and Wonder, and the Fantasy's itineraries are changing up a bit in the fall. I heard for sure -- from several people -- that the Fantasy was going to Puerto Rico. They were saying this as if it had been officially announced already. I haven't read anything around here yet, so excuse me if it has.
5) The ship is spectacular. It is beautiful and grand and much bigger than I anticipated. I spent all of Nassau Day just looking around at things. I absolutely love the style of it, and am looking forward to sailing on so grand a ship again. We are booked on a b2b in April with the kids (they're in college - and so it was just DH and myself this time) and we're on the MV of the Fantasy. That said, I think we'll always call the Magic our "home ship" and nothing will ever replace her in our minds.
6) Dining was fabulous. Cabanas > Enchanted Garden for Embarkation Lunch (and every other lunch) all the way. I never thought I'd say that, since I'm a big Parrot Cay > Topsiders girl, but Cabanas is just so opened and refreshing, and there is a much wider array of food to choose from. Our favorite restaurant for dinner was Royal Palace. I liked the elegent atmosphere and the food could not be beat. EG was our least favorite restaurant in terms of food, and I have to say, I was expecting more for that light show. I liked the new Animator's Palate... a lot. But it's so different from the old and I'm not a fan of change. I think they should have renamed the restaurant. We weren't sitting at a table near the wall and didn't get to "talk" to Crush, but that wasn't really of issue for us. There were some children, however, that were completely heartbroken to be left out. Please explain to your young children beforehand that Crush might not come over to talk to everyone. We did Palo brunch and Palo dinner on Pirate Night. Both were as good as ever. DH and I had a drink in Meridian. He loved the atmosphere, I didn't. It was something I couldn't put my finger on, but it reminded me of Ellis Island, in a way. We did not have ressies at Remy. Couldn't even get through the doors to see the place. We do have reservations for April, so I'm looking forward to that. We're big foodies.
7) Pirate Night, IMHO, was a little bit of a bust. We weren't at the first party, but we knew people who were -- we also knew people with young children who couldn't go because of late seating. (BTW, huge oversight on DCL's part. It is totally unfair to assume that everyone with children who would want to see this show would be at main seating). Of those who were able to attend, no one knew what to do with the big gap of time in the middle of the two shows. We went to Buccaneer Blast, and it was... whatever. The buffet was also lackluster (although we'd just finished at Palo so we weren't hungry). It just seemed like a huge downgrade. For the record, so did the Sail Away party. I think having two showtimes for that takes a HUGE deal of the excitement out of it.
All the mainstage stuff was great. We liked the add-ons to the Golden Mickeys and the fact that it was back on a DCL stage (well, I did... DH didn't notice and didn't really care). We didn't see Villains because we hated it on the Magic last summer. Thought Believe was fabulous. I am NOT a fan of Disney Dreams, and thought I would dislike this, but I really enjoyed it.
8) The District... I loved all of the clubs, but I just felt there was not enough scheduled activity in them. It seemed like there was always something going on in 687, but for someone who is not the typical sports fan, this can get a little boring. DH and I are social drinkers, and so we love going to the bars in the evening to unwind. We did a bit of bar hopping and loved Skyline and Pink. But Skyline was frequently crowded and Pink wasn't too exciting. We love the late night activities in Rockin' Bar D and Wavebands on the classic ships... and this was just missing from Evolution. The adult caberets were earlier on in the night, and there were no theme nights with cruise staff. Evolution had a DJ and some dancers and music. It was a night club, and if I were in my 20's, I would've loved it, but DH and I are in our mid-40's and we're not really akin to the club scene anymore. We enjoy doing things after dinner. We like staying out until 12 or 1 AM. On the Dream, we'd go down to The District, have a drink, and sit in evolution until about 11 when we realized we were bored. There was just nothing going on at night. I think this was our only big problem with the entire trip.
9) The pool decks are fine. The pools are definitely smaller than they used to be (with the exception of the Mickey pool), but I didn't see anyone having a real problem with it. I spent a good amount of time at QC. And while it was a smaller area, it was never terribly crowded. There was a fair amount of through traffic with some obnoxious kids (and some even more obnoxious parents) who thought it was a cool area to hang out in. But, like I said, Disney has taken note of the situation.
I LOVED the QC hottubs, and used the Spa once. I would've used it more had it been a longer cruise. From what I saw, it was lovely. Quick Service stations were okay. There weren't many lines and there was more of a selection. I wasn't too fond of their being so close together, but I do understand how this can work for most people. We just didn't use them much.
10) LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the addition of more shopping. We (I) did a lot of it. We didn't see many rude passengers making a scene in the shops, but that could have been exclusive to the MV. I heard no reports of anyone stealing anyone, but of course, how would I know? Those pillows on the bed though were pretty tempting...
11) There was a huge fire in Nassau the day we were docked there. They pushed back debarking the ship for a few hours. That caused people to launch into an uproar. What? Do you WANT to walk into an inferno? We didn't get off the ship anyway, so we weren't phased, but our Nassau day on board was a little less empty than we would've liked.
All in all, barring a few scheduling issues, we had a wonderful experience and a great time. We're looking forward to taking our kids on board in April. We'll be in WDW until Saturday, so I won't be back to the "real world' for a while and thus totally opened to answering any questions you may ask.
1) The majority of the crew is already in the process of changing over, especially the dining staff. On February 26 and March 6, there will be two big overhauls. Originally, they "over-hired" for server and assistant server positions. They kept the "over-hires" on for training until mid-January, then sent them home. The "newbies" were given shorter contracts so the "over-hires" can get some work in. They will be back at the end of this month, and the beginning of next month -- as will some more experienced servers who are just beginning their time on the Disney Dream. So good news is that the majority of the brand new servers will be gone by the beginning of March. The bad news is that we'll be getting more.
As for our servers, we did not have a problem at all. We requested our Head Server and he made sure we were taken care of. Our server had spent five previous years on the Magic. Our assistant server was new, but learning the ropes quickly. We had no complaints about our team - they were fantastic, but we heard about others who had A LOT of complaints about their teams.
Cruise staff will also be changing up a lot in the coming weeks. They have a good mix of new blood and old favorites, and while they're not as involved in adult activities (more on that later) as they are on the classic ships, they were still an incredibly personable and fun group. Their contracts are widely staggered, again, with the newbies having shorter contracts than the experienced Cruise Staffers. One CM I spoke to in particular is expecting a baby, and will leave on March 6 when she reaches her 24th week. She was just excited to be on the ship for as long as she could!
2) A LOT of new Cast Members have already quit and terminated their contracts. It seems like a lot of people signed up unaware of what they were getting themselves into and found that they couldn't handle it, which is understandable. There are CMs who say that the general loyalty to the brand amongst crew is not what it used to be on the classics, and they're working on that.
3) They are aware of [at least some] design flaws in the ship. The officer I spoke to mentioned the QC area and Shutters specifically. He also said that there were already engineers and officers who were in/on their way to/already back from Papenburg and the Celebration offices making and aiding with design changes for the Fantasy. This is not to say that the QC area and Shutters on the Fantasy will change, but those are the areas he mentioned, so I'm putting two and two together.
4) The remaining 2012 itineraries will be released VERY shortly. By April 1, for the Magic and Wonder, and possibly as early as March 1 for the Dream and Fantasy. They, apparently, are just waiting on port clearances for the Magic and Wonder, and the Fantasy's itineraries are changing up a bit in the fall. I heard for sure -- from several people -- that the Fantasy was going to Puerto Rico. They were saying this as if it had been officially announced already. I haven't read anything around here yet, so excuse me if it has.
5) The ship is spectacular. It is beautiful and grand and much bigger than I anticipated. I spent all of Nassau Day just looking around at things. I absolutely love the style of it, and am looking forward to sailing on so grand a ship again. We are booked on a b2b in April with the kids (they're in college - and so it was just DH and myself this time) and we're on the MV of the Fantasy. That said, I think we'll always call the Magic our "home ship" and nothing will ever replace her in our minds.
6) Dining was fabulous. Cabanas > Enchanted Garden for Embarkation Lunch (and every other lunch) all the way. I never thought I'd say that, since I'm a big Parrot Cay > Topsiders girl, but Cabanas is just so opened and refreshing, and there is a much wider array of food to choose from. Our favorite restaurant for dinner was Royal Palace. I liked the elegent atmosphere and the food could not be beat. EG was our least favorite restaurant in terms of food, and I have to say, I was expecting more for that light show. I liked the new Animator's Palate... a lot. But it's so different from the old and I'm not a fan of change. I think they should have renamed the restaurant. We weren't sitting at a table near the wall and didn't get to "talk" to Crush, but that wasn't really of issue for us. There were some children, however, that were completely heartbroken to be left out. Please explain to your young children beforehand that Crush might not come over to talk to everyone. We did Palo brunch and Palo dinner on Pirate Night. Both were as good as ever. DH and I had a drink in Meridian. He loved the atmosphere, I didn't. It was something I couldn't put my finger on, but it reminded me of Ellis Island, in a way. We did not have ressies at Remy. Couldn't even get through the doors to see the place. We do have reservations for April, so I'm looking forward to that. We're big foodies.
7) Pirate Night, IMHO, was a little bit of a bust. We weren't at the first party, but we knew people who were -- we also knew people with young children who couldn't go because of late seating. (BTW, huge oversight on DCL's part. It is totally unfair to assume that everyone with children who would want to see this show would be at main seating). Of those who were able to attend, no one knew what to do with the big gap of time in the middle of the two shows. We went to Buccaneer Blast, and it was... whatever. The buffet was also lackluster (although we'd just finished at Palo so we weren't hungry). It just seemed like a huge downgrade. For the record, so did the Sail Away party. I think having two showtimes for that takes a HUGE deal of the excitement out of it.
All the mainstage stuff was great. We liked the add-ons to the Golden Mickeys and the fact that it was back on a DCL stage (well, I did... DH didn't notice and didn't really care). We didn't see Villains because we hated it on the Magic last summer. Thought Believe was fabulous. I am NOT a fan of Disney Dreams, and thought I would dislike this, but I really enjoyed it.
8) The District... I loved all of the clubs, but I just felt there was not enough scheduled activity in them. It seemed like there was always something going on in 687, but for someone who is not the typical sports fan, this can get a little boring. DH and I are social drinkers, and so we love going to the bars in the evening to unwind. We did a bit of bar hopping and loved Skyline and Pink. But Skyline was frequently crowded and Pink wasn't too exciting. We love the late night activities in Rockin' Bar D and Wavebands on the classic ships... and this was just missing from Evolution. The adult caberets were earlier on in the night, and there were no theme nights with cruise staff. Evolution had a DJ and some dancers and music. It was a night club, and if I were in my 20's, I would've loved it, but DH and I are in our mid-40's and we're not really akin to the club scene anymore. We enjoy doing things after dinner. We like staying out until 12 or 1 AM. On the Dream, we'd go down to The District, have a drink, and sit in evolution until about 11 when we realized we were bored. There was just nothing going on at night. I think this was our only big problem with the entire trip.
9) The pool decks are fine. The pools are definitely smaller than they used to be (with the exception of the Mickey pool), but I didn't see anyone having a real problem with it. I spent a good amount of time at QC. And while it was a smaller area, it was never terribly crowded. There was a fair amount of through traffic with some obnoxious kids (and some even more obnoxious parents) who thought it was a cool area to hang out in. But, like I said, Disney has taken note of the situation.
I LOVED the QC hottubs, and used the Spa once. I would've used it more had it been a longer cruise. From what I saw, it was lovely. Quick Service stations were okay. There weren't many lines and there was more of a selection. I wasn't too fond of their being so close together, but I do understand how this can work for most people. We just didn't use them much.
10) LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the addition of more shopping. We (I) did a lot of it. We didn't see many rude passengers making a scene in the shops, but that could have been exclusive to the MV. I heard no reports of anyone stealing anyone, but of course, how would I know? Those pillows on the bed though were pretty tempting...
11) There was a huge fire in Nassau the day we were docked there. They pushed back debarking the ship for a few hours. That caused people to launch into an uproar. What? Do you WANT to walk into an inferno? We didn't get off the ship anyway, so we weren't phased, but our Nassau day on board was a little less empty than we would've liked.
All in all, barring a few scheduling issues, we had a wonderful experience and a great time. We're looking forward to taking our kids on board in April. We'll be in WDW until Saturday, so I won't be back to the "real world' for a while and thus totally opened to answering any questions you may ask.
Thanks for the great detail and information. Reports like this make me even more excited for our trip in October. Thanks a lot!!!
