Today is Thursday, January 17th
Yesterday was a full day at AK and MK so we were a bit tired this morning. We slept in until 8am and then packed up and went to the Port Canaveral Security by 11:15am -- great time!
Let me tell you, when we turned off the main highway and saw the Dream ship for the first time, it was an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G sight!! I got goosebumps with excitement. I will never forget that first look -- the ship is HUMONGOUS yet also incredibly pretty! There were other ships we saw along the way and during the cruise (Carnival, RCI) but they looked so boxy and ugly like Cinderella's step sisters. The
DCL Dream looked like Cinderella!
Jerry dropped us off to off-load our luggage and we went through security while he parked the truck/SUV. We decided to just park right at the terminal -- it isn't cheap I think it was $70 or so for the time we were gone, but since it was our first time, we decided to pay it for the convenience and b/c we knew where that was as opposed to trying to find where the shuttle parking lot is located.
While waiting to board we met one of the Dissers from the FE (Fish Extender, more on that later) who recognized pics of my kids. We probably waited about 45 minutes to get through the line. There were characters in nautical gear, tvs showing cartoons, etc.
Off through the magic ears and onto the ship!
We went to the kids club right away to register/check in and get their arm bands for the girls. Oh, my!! If I didn't know that DCL was something special just by looking at the ship from the outside ... I definitely knew it from the kids club.
First, during regular operating hours, you can drop your kids off at any time. No need to register a certain time. In fact, you could leave your kids in the club ALL day, if you wish. Of course, I wouldn't do that (even if Rachel wanted me to!) but unlike other cruise lines, they guarantee that there will be coverage for your kids, anytime!!
This certainly allows for those unexpected 'adult' moments -- clubs, shows, classes, etc that we might wish to do.
So walking in the kids club, it is incredible! First it was huge, had about 6-7 different rooms and was colorful, magical and cool.
Here is one of the rooms with computer games, table for coloring, etc
Here is Andy's Bedroom -- larger than life size Toy Story characters, Andy's bed, etc. Just a great area to climb around in. If you look past Elie and me in the photo and out the door, you can see the main Kids Club area, with cool lights that turn into a game, a stage, etc. This is also where characters come to meet the kids. Believe me, I was wishing that
I could stay in the kids club!!
I knew Rachel would be totally fine in here but was a bit unsure of Elie, esp at not quite 4yo. However, she found lots to do as well and although they were in the clubs together, they didn't hang out all the time either but found there own things to do. I was very proud of both of them.
So off to Cabanas for food -- this was a seafood buffet at the top of the ship and it was exactly the right start. Breezy, sunny, and shrimp, crab legs, fish, fruit, etc. The only downside was that the waiters were very pushy about selling us a tropical, alcoholic drink. These were not included in the cruise price and although I love me a tropical umbrella drink, I also knew that DCL is not cheap and part of us doing DCL was that we wouldn't be able to do a lot of extras. But believe me, we didn't need to as they had free sodas, lemonade, juice, etc. We just had to walk over to the machine to get it. No biggie.
After lunch, we changed into swimsuits and rode the AquaDuck. Elie didn't like the water on her face and cried. but this was cool. I'm sure you've seen pictures -- it's a water coaster on a raft that goes out over the ship and around the ship. Very cool!
It started to get a bit cool by now, after all it is January, so we went to see if our room was ready and it was.
The room is small but very well designed and organized with lots of little niches to hold your personal items...two bathrooms -- one with sink and toilet and another with sink and shower. We opted to get a room with a balcony so we could enjoy it when the girls are napping or sleeping. It was a great option and I'm so glad we chose to do it.
Here are the girl's beds
We decorated our door and hung up our FE -- Fish Extender that Jerry had created. Jerry is Darth Vadar, I am Ariel, Rachel is Rapunzel and Elie is Sleeping Beauty. The concept is that you arrange ahead of time to become sort of like a Secret Santa and give gifts to others in your group during the cruise. Gifts can be anything from candy and Dollar Store items to homemade jewelry, photo albums, Disney pins, coasters, etc. Really, it's as much or as little as you wish it to be.
My girls LOVED this -- and so did I. You never knew what you were going to get!
Well since I was the organizer for our FE, I had to get to our FE meeting and Jerry went to the DVC presentation to pick up our goodies! It was so great to meet my fellow Dissers from the FE. We had over 60 families participating so it was a great mix of people. I ran into a few people while on the ship or on the island and it was just nice to actually know someone else. I'm still FB friends with many of the folks from the FE and hope to meet up with them again!
After the meeting, we had to do the Muster Drill where they organize us into groups and tell us what we should do in the case of a "Titanic". Not that we will hit an ice berg, but still... This was a VERY serious part of the cruise and we were constantly 'hushed' to remain quiet. I think it lasted about 30 minutes maybe? It seemed to take forever. Next time we will bring our ipads along so the girls can play them while waiting.
Then we go back to our room to hang off our balcony and watch the DREAM pull out of the harbor/port. This was so much fun and everyone was "partying" from their balconies ... people at the restaurant/clubs along the path or on smaller boats would scream and shout and wave to us and we did the same back. This is some of the sights we saw along the way out of port.
At the very end, there was this older couple in their motor home who had a musical horn and they blew it at us and everyone cheered. It was so incredible and worth the price of the balcony right there. Also, we were on the 7th deck so when the Sea Gulls and Pelicans flew by, it looked like we could just reach out and touch them!
Dinner, pics with Capn Mickey,
dropped off our Photo Mats with Guest Services to be signed by the characters, girls went to kids club while Jerry and I wandered the ship and then off to bed. I ordered Room Service (free, just tip) and ate it out on the balcony while the girls slept.
Finally bed for me, too.
Guess we need to get back there, too!
but had to be off the ship early so the crew can clean and get ready for the next passengers.
