Just returned from Dream 3/27-4/1

[Snurk71]

We got back Sunday from our first cruise (DCL or other) and had a fabulous time. We’ve been to WDW/DL close to 20 times in the past 10ish years, so we have a lot of Disney experience. We were really wowed by the level of service on the cruise – it felt like the idealistic service level of old that Disney was known for. If they could transfer that service level to the land resorts and parks – that would be incredible.

Random thoughts/comments from our trip…

Cast - Me DH (40), DW (40), DD (11)

Before the cruise we stayed BCV for 4 nights in a studio. Crowds were pretty heavy in the parks, and it was getting warm before we left for the cruise. So this was the ideal setup for us – right when we’re getting tired/cranky from the parks, head off to relax on the ship to finish off the vacation and not come home feeling like we need another few days rest.


Cabin
Cabin 8188 is dead center aft – one of the ones with the huge verandah. Great spot for us – great view looking out to the water or CC. We even watched the fireworks from there.

We were amazed at how much storage space there is – there’s room everywhere.

Only nit is would it be too much trouble for the bathroom light switches to be in the bathrooms (we had a split). I don’t know how many times one of us went in the left bathroom only to realize we forgot to turn the light on.

The fridge kept our drinks plenty cold. I stored a couple milks for a couple of days and they were still cold to drink.

I couldn’t believe the amount of on-demand programming was available on the cabin TV (seemed like every Disney movie ever made). We didn’t watch much, but DD was enjoying the classic cartoons one afternoon (especially the Donald and Chip & Dale’s). DCL must have the rights to everything.

Nesh was our cabin host – great service (DD loved seeing the towel animals each night).

We had some rough seas the first and last night- the cabin was really moving those nights.


Food
Dining rotation was ERAAE. Head server (or whatever they’re called) – Dogan, Server – Georgi, Assistant – Agus. Georgi and Agus really took good care of us, made the right recommendations on the food, and were pleasant to talk with/get to know (it didn’t seem like the other tables around us were as social with them).

We ate in the assigned dining room each night and the food was good for me (not great – I’m not much of a foodie though). DW really enjoyed a fair number of the food items though. As with most, we weren’t really wowed by any of the desserts though. My favorite meal was probably pirate night (short ribs), followed by the steak in AP??? (I had the steak 3 of the nights).

We had breakfast and lunch in RP (once each) for something different.

I think I was more concerned with the dress in the dining rooms that I needed to be. DW and DD wore skirts, but I wore a collared shirt with jeans and tennis shoes. I did see a few wearing shorts, and it didn’t impact me. If I wasn’t looking to check, I don’t know how anyone would notice to the extent that it would impact their trip. I’ll be tempted to wear shorts in the future.

We really liked Cabanas (weren’t expecting over easy eggs to be so available), except for finding a table one morning.

The quick service area (Flo’s???) was good. Had pizza several times, chicken strips and fries, and a Panini.

Had room service twice – one morning (not impressed) and one night (strips, fries, Panini, warm cookies, Mickey bar).

Yes, the Mickey bars were back in service.


Entertainment
Pulling into the dock at CC is NOISY, at least where we were. No sleeping through that earthquake.

CC was windy and a little cool on our first stop Wednesday. DW snorkeled out but the water was super cloudy – I was too much of a sissy for how cold the water was. The water was warmer (enough for me to get in) the second stop on Saturday. The water was a little cloudy in the shallow area, but there’s nothing really there to see anyway. The water was clear far out where the stuff is (and the fish).

There was something in the water biting/stinging all over on Saturday – lots of people were commenting on it (DW had half a dozen).

DD enjoyed The Edge, but there wasn’t that much to do in there. She played a little Wii and had some fun on the green screen. She liked the games/programs the counselors did though and met some girls to run around with. She’d leave dinner when we ordered dessert and we’d next see her in the cabin at 1:00.

DW and I really enjoyed the adult entertainment. Simon (the adult entertainment guy) was good. We did the trivia events (won once, just missed two other times) with him and went to Evolution each night (mate game, karaoke, magic show). I don’t know where all the adults were on the cruise though. It didn’t seem like there was hardly anyone in The District each night.

Our enjoyment of the shows ranked as – The Muppets (we watched this instead of John Carter when it was playing in the main theatre), the illusionist, Believe, Villains, Golden Mickeys.

We stumbled upon the Galley Tour one afternoon (it wasn’t listed on the Navigator). Chef Cris from RP took us on a tour of the galley that was really interesting. We even had a short talk with the top pastry chef for all of DCL – he was checking things out before going on the Fantasy.

We only rode the Aquaduck once – first afternoon. The line was pretty long/slow moving. It looked like people were getting stuck more frequently than I would have thought (the water would be shut off). It was okay, but we had just spent an afternoon at TL a couple days earlier.


Misc
Shutters is an absolute zoo the last night – WOW!!!

We’re DVC members and went to the welcome presentation and stopped by the desk each day for the daily gift. We ended up with quite a bit of swag. Hats, leather portfolio, wooden storage box, lanyard, couple of prints, pin, and probably a couple other things I’m forgetting.

We booked a dummy cruise (Dec2013) the 2nd night before dinner to take advantage of the discount and extra OBC.


That’s turned into quite a list. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[Niebz]

Thanks for the report! We're cruising the same itinerary in May. Is there any chance you might have some daily navigators you could share?

 

[Snurk71]

Thanks for the report! We're cruising the same itinerary in May. Is there any chance you might have some daily navigators you could share?

I think I have all of our Navigators. Just need to find them and scan them.

 

[Niebz]

I'd love to see them if you can find them.

 

[edomeracki]

Great report...liked reading it.
One question...when you say 'We booked a dummy cruise'...what is a dummy cruise?

 

[Tinkerbell139]

Thanks for the great information! We'll ask for the galley tour when we're onboard!

 

[Snurk71]

I'd love to see them if you can find them.

I didn't get around to scanning them, but I took pictures of them and uploaded them. Easiest just to view them in my album here. That way you can enlarge them, etc to see what you want to see (they have a little blur in spots). I think the days are in order.

Great report...liked reading it.
One question...when you say 'We booked a dummy cruise'...what is a dummy cruise?

Dummy cruise is a random cruise - as far as out possible, not the one you necessarily intend to take the next time. But when you book while on board, you get 10% of the rate and get an OBC from Disney too. You can change cruises later when you know what cruise you actually want to take - but you'll still get 10% of whatever the going rate is for the changed cruise and still get an OBC from Disney. Even if you aren't sure when you'll go again, or even if, still book the dummy cruise because you can keep extending it out for years (in theory) or cancel without penalty (as long as you're still in the timeframe to do so).

The deposit is also less - 10% down instead of 20%. That didn't matter much to us, but might for some.

Thanks for the great information! We'll ask for the galley tour when we're onboard!

You might need to ask more than one person - it seems not everyone was really aware of it. It was so little advertised that we only had 6 people in our group. Really interesting if you're a Food Network watcher.