vrneuroh
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2021
- Messages
- 73
We just got off the Dream this morning (officially gold status now!) and it was an amazing cruise!!! The weather was great, but a bit cool in spots at Castaway on Sunday. The crew was amazing and the people onboard were some of the nicest I have been with. Port arrival was smooth on Friday and our test results were back in 30 minutes (we were boarding group 3). We had to wear masks until we boarded. They allowed passengers to actually wait in the terminal until boarding started around 11:30am. As soon as we boarded, masks came off (crew still had them on). Masks were only required in the Walt Disney Theater and they ran two shows!!! Believe on Friday and Beauty and the Beast on Sunday. Both shows were incredible!! No drinks or popcorn were sold outside the theater. No pirate night or any deck parties either.
We learned reservations for Oceaneer Club were no longer required for 5 and up! Our kids could stay as long as they wanted and didn’t have to stay in groups. The Infinity room was open, but the game systems no longer work, so I imagine the room will be closed soon. My kids were really upset it wasn’t open, but they still had a blast! One counselor even remembered one of my boys from our cruise in 2019!!
As for gift shops, Mickey’s Mainsail was totally closed on Friday and Saturday (both sections), but the larger side reopened on Sunday evening! The registers were moved to a different area and seemed to be the only major change.
In Nassau, local rules require masks as soon as you leave the ship, but Castaway - no masks anywhere!!! Trams/bathrooms/shops/food areas no longer required them.
If you are looking to book a placeholder, a word of caution. We booked through the app and soon after we checked it again and we received an error stating the payment could not be processed. The app said to visit the Disney Vacation Planning desk on deck 4. We went down and nobody was there. We had to go to Guest Services and we filled out a card. If you receive and error don’t fill out a card, your placeholder will not be processed per a crew member at the desk.
Cabanas still had very limited offerings and the crew still served your food. We ended up eating breakfast in a MDR Sunday and Monday mornings and it was so much better. My heart ached for the servers. They worked very hard to make sure we were happy and were so happy the passenger count was higher for this sailing. They have had some fairly empty cruises recently and it is tough on them. They also struggle with being required to wear masks since they cannot show their smiles and some struggle to communicate. They did say this could be changing soon, so I hope it will so they can offer even higher-level service!
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I can do my best to answer!!
We learned reservations for Oceaneer Club were no longer required for 5 and up! Our kids could stay as long as they wanted and didn’t have to stay in groups. The Infinity room was open, but the game systems no longer work, so I imagine the room will be closed soon. My kids were really upset it wasn’t open, but they still had a blast! One counselor even remembered one of my boys from our cruise in 2019!!
As for gift shops, Mickey’s Mainsail was totally closed on Friday and Saturday (both sections), but the larger side reopened on Sunday evening! The registers were moved to a different area and seemed to be the only major change.
In Nassau, local rules require masks as soon as you leave the ship, but Castaway - no masks anywhere!!! Trams/bathrooms/shops/food areas no longer required them.
If you are looking to book a placeholder, a word of caution. We booked through the app and soon after we checked it again and we received an error stating the payment could not be processed. The app said to visit the Disney Vacation Planning desk on deck 4. We went down and nobody was there. We had to go to Guest Services and we filled out a card. If you receive and error don’t fill out a card, your placeholder will not be processed per a crew member at the desk.
Cabanas still had very limited offerings and the crew still served your food. We ended up eating breakfast in a MDR Sunday and Monday mornings and it was so much better. My heart ached for the servers. They worked very hard to make sure we were happy and were so happy the passenger count was higher for this sailing. They have had some fairly empty cruises recently and it is tough on them. They also struggle with being required to wear masks since they cannot show their smiles and some struggle to communicate. They did say this could be changing soon, so I hope it will so they can offer even higher-level service!
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I can do my best to answer!!
