March 13, 2011 - DREAM

[mkathyrn220]

I never got cruise docs so I called DCL today - always such fun to wait on hold for 20 minutes. The lady told me (rather rudely) that I should get the packet - some time next week - also told me that I don't need anything in it that I just give the folks at the welcome wagon my luggage check slips and they will take care of everything. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[kkruser]

I never got cruise docs so I called DCL today - always such fun to wait on hold for 20 minutes. The lady told me (rather rudely) that I should get the packet - some time next week - also told me that I don't need anything in it that I just give the folks at the welcome wagon my luggage check slips and they will take care of everything. Anyone have any experience with this?

Never sailed DCL before, but from my experience on other cruise lines this would be correct if you have filled in on-line check-in information, prinited off and signed signature form to show when checking in. All they do is scan the signature form and give you your room cardkeys. Easy peasy, lemon cheesy.

I am assuming from the information you were given about luggage that you have arranged your flight through DCL. They should have your information on a passenger list when they meet you at the airport and have extra luggage tags to fill in with your cabin number, so that luggage can find you again.

 

[Chernabog381]

Really time to pull out the suitcases...the only things we have ready are the FE gifts and magnets...only one weekend left before we leave!!!!

 

[Spiffie]

I must confess that I don't have my FE gifts completed yet and I was very excited about going, but all of these "nightmare" Dream reviews of crowds and poor service are stressing me out!

Anyone else nervous?

 

[jenerra11]

I must confess that I don't have my FE gifts completed yet and I was very excited about going, but all of these "nightmare" Dream reviews of crowds and poor service are stressing me out!

Anyone else nervous?

Spiffie, I read some good reviews also. Some people want to live in a perfect world and we know that will never happen. Don't let their reviews scare you. Put in your head that you are going to WDW during peak time because we will be on a sold out ship. Of coarse there will be lines, but there are also lines at Walmart....and that doesn't stop us right? We will have a wonderful time!!!

 

[Spiffie]

Spiffie, I read some good reviews also. Some people want to live in a perfect world and we know that will never happen. Don't let their reviews scare you. Put in your head that you are going to WDW during peak time because we will be on a sold out ship. Of coarse there will be lines, but there are also lines at Walmart....and that doesn't stop us right? We will have a wonderful time!!!

Thanks, Jenerra! I am trying!!! "I" can handle the lines and the crowds. I am really more worried about my children. I am one of those parents who expects good behavior out of my children no matter where we are. I know we are on vacation, but that doesn't mean we leave our manners and our courtesies at home! So, I hope that we don't experience that with other travelers. My children just don't know how to handle those situations well!

We have been in the MK on New Year's Eve, so crowds we can handle!

Breathe in, Breathe out! repeat!

 

[Tx<3sDisney]

We are driving in from TX, but will be at WDW on Friday..I have been reading reviews about what time to arrive at the port...just curious what everyone else is planning on doing. I was planning on whenever we got up, just to head to the port...so, I figure we will be there around 11ish, maybe earlier...we will be excited..just curious what everyone else is doing...

 

[firegoofy]

Just a word about the terrible trip reports, if you look most of these reports are from people who have almost never posted before. In one case the poster had almost the exact same poor experience two years before on the Magic. For the most part everyone that was on the same cruise did not experience the same problems. As we all know Disney has a way of dealing with lines so that you don't really feel like the wait is terrible, I would assume this has carried onto the Dream. The only crazy part seems to be embarkation because everyone wants to be on as early as possible, we are going to wait till just after 1 to go over to try to avoid waiting in the terminal for loading to start. When we were on the Wonder the terminal was quite busy early on and I can only imagine how crowded it gets with all those extra passengers. See you all soon!

 

[kkruser]

We are driving in from TX, but will be at WDW on Friday..I have been reading reviews about what time to arrive at the port...just curious what everyone else is planning on doing. I was planning on whenever we got up, just to head to the port...so, I figure we will be there around 11ish, maybe earlier...we will be excited..just curious what everyone else is doing...

I was just thinking about the same subject. I discovered that March 13 is the day we spring forward for daylight savings time. That means we need to remember to move our clocks forward or we may be left waiting on the dock.

Otherwise, we checked 12:30 for the time we plan to arrive when we filled in our on-line check-in on DCL website. Son said that he was not offered as many timeslots when he filled his in a few weeks later. I'm not sure if DCL holds you to the time you click on-line or not.

 

[kkruser]

Just a word about the terrible trip reports, if you look most of these reports are from people who have almost never posted before. In one case the poster had almost the exact same poor experience two years before on the Magic. For the most part everyone that was on the same cruise did not experience the same problems. As we all know Disney has a way of dealing with lines so that you don't really feel like the wait is terrible, I would assume this has carried onto the Dream. The only crazy part seems to be embarkation because everyone wants to be on as early as possible, we are going to wait till just after 1 to go over to try to avoid waiting in the terminal for loading to start. When we were on the Wonder the terminal was quite busy early on and I can only imagine how crowded it gets with all those extra passengers. See you all soon!

I read reviews about ships often. You have to take the good and the bad with a grain of salt. No matter what the line, there always seem to be more bad reviews than good ones. It's a cruise. We have a choice: stay at home in our daily grind or go on a cruise. No brainer for me. I'll pick the cruise every time, and I have been on a bad one with Premier. That cruise was so bad that they gave every passenger a voucher for a free cruise (and went out of buisness in less than two months after our cruise.) Even that cruise beat staying at home and going to work.

 

[jen-n-greg]

If any of you would like to go to Aquaventure, check into reserving a room at Comfort Suites Paradise Island. The price for a room is around $350. If you stay at this hotel, you have complete access to all of Atlantis for up to 4 people…including Aquaventure! So instead of spending $1120 for the 7 of us, we will only be spending about $585 (military rate).

Are they still doing this? I sent an email to Comfort Suites and they said you only get access to the beaches - not Aquaventure.

 

[HappyontheLake]

I was just thinking about the same subject. I discovered that March 13 is the day we spring forward for daylight savings time. That means we need to remember to move our clocks forward or we may be left waiting on the dock.

Well that just bites! I don't want to get up earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well, we will deal with it.

 

[out4funorlando]

I must confess that I don't have my FE gifts completed yet and I was very excited about going, but all of these "nightmare" Dream reviews of crowds and poor service are stressing me out!

Anyone else nervous?

I have talked to people that have actually gone on the Dream and the only people that I know that had problems went on the Inaugural cruise and they have made changes to fix some of the problems.
1. You now have times that you can arrive at the port. Before it was just a free-for-all...now everyone has a half hour window they should arrive.
2. They have changed the times of the shows slightly to give a little more time to get from the shows to dinner or dinner to shows.

These are just 2 of the things I know they have changed to accommodate the guest better. I live in Orlando and have a lot of friends that work for Disney. All complaints are looked into seriously and they make changes very quickly.

In short...let Disney do all the worrying. I plan on just enjoying myself.

 

[out4funorlando]

Hello Jen-n-Greg, I actually emailed them and this is the response they gave me. I have included the email address so you can contact them directly. I will diffidently take a copy of my email with me for proof.

All guests of Comfort Suites Paradise Island have full use of the Atlantis pool, slides and beach facilities and the new aqua venture park.

However we only allow a maximum of 4 persons per room. If you have more than four persons whether it is adults or children you would have to get two rooms.

We do provide a pre-check in anytime after 9am so that you can start you day over by the Atlantis. You would not have access to your room until 3pm the official check in time.

If I may be of any further assistance feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Gerrina Cunningham
Reservations Manager
Comfort Suites Paradise Island
gcunningham @ comfortsuitespi.com

Here is a quote from their website "The Comfort Suites® Paradise Island is located adjacent to the Atlantis Paradise Island and guests of the hotel can enjoy full use of all their facilities, including swimming pools, private beach, magnificent waterscapes, Lazy River Ride, water slides, health spa, tennis, and Kids Camp. Guests also have full signing privileges at Atlantis' restaurants and lounges."

 

[ksoehrlein]

I was just thinking about the same subject. I discovered that March 13 is the day we spring forward for daylight savings time.

I was thinking about this and kept feeling gypped that we would miss an hour of our cruise. But I just realized that's not true! Since we "spring forward" on Saturday night/Sunday morning, that just means we get to board an hour earlier than we would without daylight savings. Pretty sweet!

 

[out4funorlando]

I just emailed the Comfort Suites again and here is their response. I have included my contacts email so you can contact them directly:

All guests of the Comfort Suites Paradise Island has complimentary use of the pool, slides, beach facilities and new aqua venture park at the Atlantis.

All person registered to your room will get access to the property.

Regards,

Gerrina Cunningham
Reservations Manager
Comfort Suites Paradise Island Bahamas
P.O. Box SS6202
Phone 1(242) 363-3680 Ext 6360
Fax 1(242) 363-2588
gcunningham@comfortsuitespi.com

 

[kkruser]

I have talked to people that have actually gone on the Dream and the only people that I know that had problems went on the Inaugural cruise and they have made changes to fix some of the problems.
1. You now have times that you can arrive at the port. Before it was just a free-for-all...now everyone has a half hour window they should arrive.
2. They have changed the times of the shows slightly to give a little more time to get from the shows to dinner or dinner to shows.

What if you are late or early for your time slot? We are arriving with four others who checked 1 PM, while I checked 12:30 for our reservation. We were not together when we filled in the on-line info. Should I go back and try to change it?

 

[out4funorlando]

I don't think they are going to be too strict. Remember this is all new to them too so they will be working out the bugs. I just think that if people are assigned times, that it will stager it out a little bit and make it run more smoothly. I look forward to seeing everyone at 3:15 by the Aquaduck.

 

[gmark2000]

I just PM'd the participants of the "Magnet Exchange" with the room numbers. There's only five staterooms participating but it should be fun!

 

[Chernabog381]

I have talked to people that have actually gone on the Dream and the only people that I know that had problems went on the Inaugural cruise and they have made changes to fix some of the problems.
1. You now have times that you can arrive at the port. Before it was just a free-for-all...now everyone has a half hour window they should arrive.
2. They have changed the times of the shows slightly to give a little more time to get from the shows to dinner or dinner to shows.

These are just 2 of the things I know they have changed to accommodate the guest better. I live in Orlando and have a lot of friends that work for Disney. All complaints are looked into seriously and they make changes very quickly.

In short...let Disney do all the worrying. I plan on just enjoying myself.

We are on a waiting list to change our show time (NOT A FAN OF THE EARLIER TIMES)...I just think the first show is too early and it really makes getting back and dressed feel like we will be rushed there is a reason we always go for 2nd seating dinner...fingers crossed...but if it doesn't get changed for us it doesn't get changed. In all the years we have done WDW and the last cruise all we had to do was ask and the Disney folks did everything they could to honor our requests...we'll be having a blast no matter what!