Not the greatest Disney Cruise on the Dream

[Toby]

Let me just preface this post saying that this was my 7th Disney Cruise. I just got off the ship 2 days ago. I went with another couple and my husband. I have never seen so many out of control kids in my life. From running the corridors all times of the days, kids scraping deck chairs across the floor of the verandah constantly, toddlers not staying in their seats at dinner, so they were under the tables, making it difficult for the waiters, and most of all, the OBLIVIOUS parents. Gee if your kids are screaming in their chairs, maybe you should take them out of the dining room after 5-10 minutes of that so that other diners don't have to listen to it.

We were seated at a table for four, which we requested, in between two long tables of a family reunion in a somewhat secluded room. It was mayhem! Why would Disney think we would want to sit there? Talk about having a headache. It was just a loud, constant din, so that you couldn't relax. We had the nice "chat" with the head Maitre D after that meal. He was all apologetic, and the next night did find us a quieter section. Maybe Disney should implement a family-section only in the dining rooms.

While trying to have a nice time on my verandah sipping coffee, the sliding door opens next door, and the mother's screaming at her kids, the F-bombs are flying, and all you heard were kids yelling right back at her. I ended up going back into my room.

Thank God, for the Quiet Cove adult pool and decks. You could always find a quiet spot there.

I always brought my kids when they were younger on these cruises, and no, they weren't perfect. But at least, I knew to remove them when they acted up in the dining room, or let them run down the corridors yelling at 7:30 am.

We're booked on the 15 day Hawaiian Cruise on Disney, and I'm already dreading it....maybe I need to stop cruising with Disney until I have grandchildren, and look for Adult-only cruises!

 

[dwcsk8]

I am so sorry that you had to experience all that on your cruise.

I am booked on this Thursday's three night cruise on the Dream. Were the kids just as bad at Castaway Cay, too?

 

[Toby]

We didn't see too many kids on CC as we headed to Serenity Bay, the Adult Beach. That was beautiful. A lot of kids were wonderful having the time of their lives, making me wistful for my own kids, who are grown up now. It just seemed no matter where we went, someone was having a major meltdown!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Take heart, the 15 day Hawaiian cruise is during school, so hopefully you won't have as many kids to deal with.

 

[Goldeelox9]

We are on the Hawaiian cruise in October. So far it seems like a lot of Adult only bookings.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Funny you should say that but I thought it was very loud in the dining rooms on the Dream when we sailed in June. Now, I wasn't in the best of moods because I had just dislocated my elbow and was in a sling and splint. But I felt everything was loud. It was weird. Anyways, I thought the dining rooms were very noisy. We were kinda of in the middle of the room. The only restaurant we weren't was in Enchanted Gardens. We had the booths behind us and so it created a sound barrier. But I thought it was loud. I loved Serendity Bay it was amazingly beautiful just to sit and hear nothing. My kids were 10 and 13 years old so, I might be at that point I can't handle other people's kids again until I have grandchildren. LOL...

 

[GoHabsGo]

Sorry to hear about your experience.

We were on 1/15-19 sailing and I can't recall seeing more than two kids with "behavior" issues. One of them was only crying because he had to leave the kid's club and wanted to stay. I think the other one was just overwhelmed. Luck of the draw, I guess.
We lucked out by being seated with a great family and met some really great kids in the FE/cruise meet that was organized.

OP about noisy dining rooms - it wasn't just your elbow. I'm guessing 750 people in each dining room so they probably should have some noise abatement strategies other than getting people to stuff their mouths full of food!

There were only two things in my experience that weren't "dreamy" -
(1) smoker on balcony two doors down. Seems like we were on the same schedule for being out there and the wind ALWAYS seemed to blow from that verandah to mine.
(2) we took the 4 day because we weren't sure about DD's sea legs. Turns out she was fine so we should have sailed longer.

 

[gomagic]

We did B2B in October and experienced some of the same issues. The 3 night was much worse than the 4 night. (I had read about the diff. between the 2 on these boards before so I knew what to expect going in though.) Probably the one thing that stood out to us the most was the kids in the dining room. On the 4 night we had a family behind us in Enchanted Garden (we were there on nights 3&4) who seemed oblivious to the fact that 2 of their little "angels" made a game of running from their table to the entrance of the dining room the entire time both nights. On our 3 night, the table next to us allowed one of their kids to crawl all over the floor throughout the dining rooms. One server nearly tripped over her at one point. Still don't know how he didn't drop the tray of food. That being said, we didn't let this ruin our trip in any way, but instead just found ourselves shaking our heads wondering what the parents were thinking. As sad as it may sound, it almost became comical.

 

[OrcaPotter]

Unfortunately, it seems one's fellow passengers vary from cruise to cruise. I was on the January 15-19th sailing on the Dream and I was blown away by how well-behaved most of the kids were and how the parents seemed really on top of them. However, I also experienced loud neighbors to my stateroom. Kids playing on the verandahs, scraping the chairs, yelling, etc. The stateroom directly next to mine sounded like they had 6 kids and they were doing laps up and down their room... pounding the floor so hard it almost sounded like they were directly below us. They then also thought it was a great idea to feed the seagulls directly from their verandah in Nassau and Castaway Cay. We couldn't go out because the birds were swarming while they yelled about how awesome it was, how so-n-so needed to stand just right for a photo with them, and to get more food Fortunately, though, this seemed to only be a problem first thing in the morning (despite being late risers, we were up early each day to take full advantage of our time) and just before dinner while we'd get ready.

We did not have too bad of a time with noise and such in the MDR's. We agreed, though, that Animator's was the loudest and we could have done without the "stand and shout" session just before dessert. Cute for young kids, but for 3 adults, you would think the servers would have given up when we made it clear we were not up to standing and clapping. We had an incredibly amazing time, though, and can't wait to be able to (afford) go again.

 

[dwardlaw]

Leaving on the 25th of August. Just wondering if anyone else is going on the same cruise?

 

[DisneyCruisin']

We did a 4 night on the Dream in September and it was miserable with the amount of kids running up and down the halls (and the parents running after them) at all hours of the day and night. Whomever was above us seemed to run and jump all night too. The dining rooms were loud, but not awful. We loved the adult pool area but didn't like the number of kids walking through to the elevators. My son didn't like the kid's areas as much as he does on the Magic and Wonder because of the number of kids - he felt it was just too crowded at times. His favorite activity was the AquaDuck.

Another issue we had, was the last night on the Aqua Duck. The teenagers thought it would be fun to flip their rafts and the thing was constantly being shut down. Even a couple of drunk men did the same. At that point, they shut it down for the rest of the night at about 8p.m. No fair to the rest of the passengers for the uncivil behavior of a few.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Take heart, the 15 day Hawaiian cruise is during school, so hopefully you won't have as many kids to deal with.

That's what I was thinking, too.

OP - Sorry you had that experience. Unfortunately, that type of thing happens all over all the time. It's just being in a "confined" space makes it seem worse. I have two kids and believe me, we would not allow that type of behavior of our children. If they are disruptive, they are removed from the situation. I can't stand when adults allow children to carry on like that, so I would never allow that same behavior of my own.

Regarding the F-bombing Mom and Verandah. I feel for you. At AKV last October we had very similar neighbors. The screaming and yelling was so bad that when it would start my husband and I would try to verbally occupy the kids so that they were not paying attention to it.

 

[jerseygirl74]

I would definately not let my DD act out of control, but on the other hand I will be a little more lax. We will be on vacation after all and it is a Disney cruise.

 

[keryia]

I would think most parents would not let their kids act out of hand. But it only takes a few to make things miserable for a lot of people. Hope the next one is better

 

[sherob]

Family section only in the dinning room sounds great but have observed that if you are seated at 8:30 meals there are signifcant less children, which is a good thing. You could try Holland America. On that cruise my DH and I were some of the youngest. And we are in our 60"s. Also whenever we cruise without the grands we go to Serenity Bay - no children allowed!!!

 

[only8daycruise]

I booked the first balcony on the Magic this last 2/2 and it was wonderful no smoke, booked the fantasy and did the same thing