Okay... Mojo you asked for it.
The Disney Dream Double Dip August 16-21, 2011
Twice the Fun in the Caribbean Sun... hmmm, catchy, ya think?
LuvsBlueDiamonds and Cigy7 rented a van to take us from Wilderness Lodge to PC. Not the sweet Caddy ride Mojo and I had... no Cigy rents a van! Same story, different luggage. The driver picked us up at hotel and shocking, he couldn't fit all the luggage. Yeah, Cigy packs a lot of crap. With a little pushing and shoving, the backdoors on the cargo van finally shut. We're off to the port. Finally.
To me the best part of the journey is first seeing the ship from the highway. She is big and beautiful. We've cruised superliners before so size didn't impress me. But to Cigy, size matters.
I had a 10:30 check-in, Cigy had an 11:00. Beauty and brains first. My first impression of how
DCL handles boarding has a lot to be desired. We were dropped off, gave 17 pieces of luggage to the porter and told to go wait over there. There where??? A frigging parking garage in 100 degree heat. Oh, I was not a happy camper. We got in line and was told they would open at 11 am. So why did I still have a 10:30 arrival??? Ticked me off royally. The kids were hot, the adults were hot and it was buggy. But the terminal opened at 11 am on schedule and we finally moved into the a/c.
Inside the terminal same old story. CC members go one way, steerage the other.
Cigy and I got in CC line while the others waited with the kids. A joke started at WL earlier in the week. Some guy thought Cigy and I were brother and sister. MY OLDER BROTHER, might i add! Knowing and loving us as you all do we played this joke to the max all week.
We're in the CC line and Cigy asks the guy behind us if he's ever cruised before... duh!! He's in the CC line of course he has. This guy was a joker too... I told him I was sorry but my brother is very slow and I begged Mom and Dad not to adopt him from the orphanage.
We finally get to a CM and since our reservations were linked we went to the same woman. Pearl was darling, sweet and obviously didn't save enough for retirement because a 90 year old has no business working on one of those new fanggled things called a computer.
We filled out all our paperwork and handed it to her. Cigy kept buggin me, asking if everything was done right. Really? Like I've never done this 8 times before. So I decided to have a little fun with Pearl and Cigy. On his medical declaration form I indicated he had AIDS. Pearl sped the process up at that point. Handed us our cards and told us to get in line to board. It gets better, Cigy had an A on his KTTWK. I kept telling him it indicated AIDS. Poor Mrs. Cigy.
The lot of 7 made it through the on board photos and ran up the gangway to the ship.
Stunning!!!! The Disney Dream is beautiful no doubt about it.
But once on board you start to notice a lot... like a lot of people. We had one of the only sold out sailings all summer and you could tell.
Studying the ship's layout ahead of time, we headed to Cabanna's for lunch. We couldn't find a big table so the kids/adults split up. Sorting through the food lines is interesting. Standard DCL grub, with a few nice additions. Honestly, the food all week was nothing to write home about. One big beef, where are the stoopid trays???? How many plates can a Mom juggle or how many trips does she have to make????
Some of trip details are fuzzy... I blame the alcohol.
Our rooms were ready so we headed down to find them and change for the pool.
In our stateroom were some lovely gifts, not from Cigy, from DCL. Champagne and fruit/cheese plate.
Our room was deck 6 aft. Yup, one big butt balcony!!! Room was a good size, great location, no complaints except M didn't get a pull down berth. She was sad despite the deck plan for the room showing one.
Off to the pool and to explore next.
Stay tuned...
Airfare has got to be crazy for that trip
