Our Dream "Full of Firsts" 13-Night EB Transatlantic (Portugal & Spain) Cruise + WDW ~ w/pics ~ May 2023 ~ Completed!

[dcassetta]

We went into the center where I stamped my National Park Passport Book. We were told that they were going to have a Ranger Talk at 10:30 AM at the Royal Palm Visitor Center. We high tailed our way to Royal Palm and got to the talk just as he was going to hit the Anhinga Trail. The talk/walk takes about 50 minutes around the Anhinga Trail.

I like to collect stamps, too. If you ever get a chance to go back do the Anhinga Trail at night with a flashlight. Gator eyes glow in the dark!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Oh, I am looking forward to your report! We got on the Dream the day you got off!

Welcome! I hope your embarkation was easier than ours.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

How exciting! Following along.

Welcome!

I love the Everglades! Roberts fruit stand is always a great place to stop one of the best milkshakes I’ve ever had. Shark valley tram is also a great way to spend a morning or afternoon. I biked the 16 miles in my younger day!

Welcome! We did see his fruit stand. We just didn't have time to stop.

Following, hoping to do a TA someday.

Welcome! Hope this report helps convince you to go!

I like to collect stamps, too. If you ever get a chance to go back do the Anhinga Trail at night with a flashlight. Gator eyes glow in the dark!

Sounds intriguing but I think seeing them in the daylight was enough for me.

 

[Flossbolna]

Lovely visit to the Everglades. It’s such a different NP experience as the landscape is mainly flat. But the wildlife is amazing.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Lovely visit to the Everglades. It’s such a different NP experience as the landscape is mainly flat. But the wildlife is amazing.

Yes, I agree. It was definitely different than any other park experience we have had. Unfortunately, we were able to only see such a small part of it this time.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 3
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Miami - Embarkation

Today was the day! The sun was shining and we were getting on the Dream today!



I haven’t sailed out of Florida since 2009. The one thing I don’t like about sailing out of Florida is that I haven't been able to see the ship right when I get up.

Normally the morning of a cruise, if we’re lucky enough, I'm up at 6 AM to watch the ship come in to port. This morning I was just up. Too excited to sleep!

I received the email from DCL with our health questionnaire, so I completed and submitted it.



We put on the TV to see the local weather. We looked at the Port Webcam and saw they were getting hit pretty hard with rain. It's always a good thing to see your ship arrived in port!



We went down for breakfast. The buffet was nice with hot food as well as pastries and a waffle maker. It was served in Champions.

It started raining at the hotel at about 10:00 AM.



After breakfast we all agreed to meet in the lobby at 10:45 AM to wait for our ride to the port.

I reserved a large 12 passenger, Mercedes Sprinter type van, from Transport Reservations, a local company, months ago. I arranged for a pick up time at 11:00 AM since our PAT was 11:30 AM. I was starting to worry when nobody showed up at 11. I called the number they gave me in case this happened. The receptionist apologized and said they'd call back in 20 minutes. 20 minutes came and went so I called again. A few minutes later, a driver in a large black SUV showed up. I could tell immediately that there was no way we were going to fit 11 pieces of luggage, a wheelchair (even dismantled) and 6 adults in that one vehicle. The driver knew this as well and said a separate car would be sent for the luggage. I don’t think so! I was not going to leave our luggage unattended and DNM was not going to be separated from her wheelchair. It was decided that we had to split up. We loaded DNs, the wheelchair and some luggage in the SUV. After several discussions we were told a sedan would be by to take 6 pieces of luggage and the 3 remaining adults. No way! After several calls, the driver finally told us a similar SUV would arrive to get the 3 of us and the remaining 6 pieces of luggage. About 10 minutes later, a smaller SUV did arrive. He drove out from Ft. Lauderdale. We managed to fit 3 adults and everything in the car and were off by 11:50 AM. The Grand Prix race was in town that weekend and was causing extra traffic downtown. We also found out that there were 6 large cruise ships in port today. There was also construction on roads into the port. Fortunately, our driver knew some shortcuts and saved us 20 minutes. It was the perfect storm!

I love the first moment when you glimpse the ship in port.



We were getting closer. We arrived at the port at 12:20 PM. Almost an hour after our PAT, which at this point was totally moot.



Our paperwork said we were at Terminal C, but the Dream was at Terminal E. The driver literally dropped us off at a curb in front of the terminal building. Where we saw this, there were literally bags everywhere!



A porter was there to get our luggage from the car, at least we hoped he was a porter, he seemed official, he just placed our luggage among the literally hundreds of pieces already there.

We then joined a huge line. PATs didn't seem to matter at this point. The line did move steadily though. San Diego was so much better compared to this. At least we were under shade most of the time. We had heard later that the Dream was late getting into port which may have added to the chaos.









We finally got in to the terminal at 1:05 PM. We showed our boarding pass to the attendant. Security was organized and quick for us. Not so for DNs, as officials kept moving them from station to station because of the wheelchair. We were through security and headed upstairs at 1:10 PM. We went up an escalator. A CM was asking guests their castaway club status and guiding them to correct check in line.



We knew that the ship was not going to be at capacity, but it sure seemed like it. A terminal worker overheard our conversation and told us that there was only a little over 2700 passengers on this cruise. 4400 passengers is capacity. While that was good news, it was still more people than we had ever sailed with.

We waited a few minutes for DNs to come up the elevator and then checked in. There were a lot of mobility scooters on this cruise so the elevator line was long. As I mentioned before, this was our first cruise as Platinum members. At least we were in the same line as Pearl.



The check-in was very quick and easy. They scanned our boarding pass, scanned our passports, gave us wristbands and we were done. DJ had to check in as a Gold member so her line was a bit longer, so we waited for her before getting our onboard photo taken right after check in on the way to the gang plank. While we were waiting I got onto the ship Wi-Fi and found our dining rotation:

We had main dining at 5:45 PM.

Royal Palace
Animator’s Palate
Enchanted Garden
X4

Our last night and breakfast on debarkation day would be in Royal Palace.

We were finally getting on the ship.



Surprisingly, we entered on Deck 4. I was kind of bummed we wouldn’t be entering through the grand atrium.



Officers were still there to “Welcome our Family” onboard. We were on the ship at 1:43 PM.

Our first views: This was the first cruise for the Dream with the 25th Anniversary decorations. They were very nice.





Since it was after 1:30 and our rooms were ready, we decided to go directly to our staterooms and drop our stuff before meeting at Cabana’s for lunch. Our home for the next 13 nights!



We even got a new KTTW card design.



We had a 04B Deluxe Family Ocean view Stateroom with Verandah. As I mentioned before, this was one of the few without connecting doors. We loved how spacious it was. We did miss some of the storage features of the Wonder/Magic, but we made do. I had read about the card you needed in order to operate the lights. We brought an old zoo membership card and used it the entire cruise so we didn’t have to worry about forgetting our KTTW card.









Our stateroom gifts and new Platinum lanyards were waiting for us. As Platinum members we received the tote bag (Silver), the wet/dry bag (Gold) and the beach towel (Platinum). The beach towel went to our DD.



The bathrooms seemed smaller than on the Wonder/Magic. But there was plenty of shelf space for our toiletries.





I really ended up loving the round shower. It wasn’t nearly as claustrophobic as on the smaller ships. It even had a rain shower head.



The outlets were few, but it wasn’t a problem for just the 2 of us. I used the outlet next to the bed for my phone and DH and I used the 2 outlets on the vanity for his phone and my watch, camera batteries, Nook, etc.





To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 3 continued.

We went up to Cabanas and found a table for 6 outside. It was a really nice day after the rain went through.





I was sitting down peeling my shrimp by 2:15 PM.



We set up the Navigator App so we could all chat with each other, which really came in useful on this cruise. Welcome to Miami!



After lunch we went back down to our room. As expected no luggage had arrived yet. Our room steward, Kadek, made himself known to us. I had originally booked stateroom 8132 on the port side, then I discovered stateroom 8628 was available. By the time I made the change, our luggage tags had already been printed. We told Kadek that our luggage tags had our old room number on them, but I had crossed it out and put 8628, just in case they had been misdirected. He told us he would keep an eye out for them. We also asked him to bring ice to our room every day.

We decided to head to the top of the ship to look around.





At 3:00 PM there were still pieces of luggage sitting on the curb.



We also saw the provisions yet to be loaded.



We went down to the atrium. I really thought the atrium on the Dream was beautiful. I loved the sweeping staircase. It did get pretty crowded at night with the live, music, receptions and characters. I mentioned often on this cruise how I’d hate to see the ship full!

I loved the mosaic tile work. It reminded me of the work at Cinderella’s Castle. I would later find out why.







After looking around, we went back to see if our luggage had arrived. Not yet. I had brought my door magnets in my carry on so I took a few minutes to put them on the door. I made a magnet for each of our sailings and a couple special ones for the 25th Anniversary.





I also purchased the Basic Wi-Fi package for the length of cruise for $130. I was hoping to be able to text over WiFi, but it didn’t work like that. Basically all I had access to was social media, i.e. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Fortunately, I was able to DM on Instagram with our DD throughout the cruise. It was sufficient for my needs. It was a good thing I had it though, as my DH’s 92 year old aunt had a stroke while we were at sea and his cousins were trying to reach us. One finally reached out to DD and she was able to tell us.

Finally, it was time for the 4:00 PM muster drill on deck 4 Station N. This was the first time we ever had to go out on deck for a muster drill. We were always in Animator’s Palate before. Fortunately, we were in the shade and it was not oppressively hot. We struck up a conversation with the family next to us and a guy in front of us. We were out there for about 20 minutes. I really prefer inside though.

On the way back to our stateroom we saw a couple stopped in front of our door. I already had some compliments for my magnets. No luggage yet. We missed the sail away party. We took some pictures from our balcony.







We had been seeing in the news about the sargassum seaweed making its way to the eastern coast. We saw some in the port. It looks nasty.



We went up to Deck 11 just at the end of the sail away party and saw the video on Dumbotron with the new Shimmering Sea song. I really like the song.



We found out that Lee from the United Kingdom was our Cruise Director. Our neighbors had had him before but we hadn’t. We also found that Anthony from the United Kingdom was our Assistant Cruise Director. I believe he was our assistant CD on one of our Alaska cruises.

There was also no show tonight in the theater, which was surprising. Our bags had arrived so we took the time to unpack.

I think at this point we stopped at our DNeighbors stateroom. This cruise was not starting on a good foot with them. Evidently, 2 pieces of their luggage had been placed in water and sat in water for enough time for the suitcase and its contents to absorb the water. A lot of DNM's clothes were soaked including her dress for formal night. DNC was not happy and was on the phone with guest services. We left them to figure it all out.

At 5:45 PM we headed down to the Royal Palace for our first dinner of the cruise.



We were shown to our table, #21, which we had seen earlier in our explorations close to the window.







We were introduced to our Server Agus from Bali, Indonesia. He was very friendly and laughed a lot. Our Assistant Server was Paloma from Argentina. She was also friendly and had a big beautiful smile, she was also new. It became pretty evident early on that Paloma and Agus had not worked together before and communication between the two of them was going to be an issue.

The first thing we wanted to do was order a wine package. Since it’s only the 2 of us, we opted for the 3 Bottle Classic package. I am a Pinot Grigio drinker. Unfortunately, DCL was out of the Pinot Grigio offered on the classic package. DH was unhappy, but I was thrilled because I could get Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio as we upgraded to the Premium Package! Still, a little disconcerting that the wine had not been restocked.

I will tell you right now that I did not take pictures of the menus or a lot of “Food Porn” on this cruise. As I have stated in previous reports, pictures of every dish offered by DCL is out on the internet somewhere. I apologize if you really wanted to see food pictures. I did take some pictures, mostly desserts or specialty items, that I will share.

For the first dinner, we had the “Let the Magic Begin” menu. I ordered:

Chicken Bastilla
Clam chowder
Penne Arrabbiata
Magical Express Sundae

From our table we could see other ships.



We started to feel the engines revving up and we started pulling out of port at 6:14 PM. We watched Miami Beach as we passed by on our way out to see.







By the time dessert was served, we had been at dinner almost 2 hours. I always expect the first night to go slow, but this was slower than most.



DH ordered the Dark Chocolate Bombe.



We left the Royal Palace at 7:49 PM. The characters were already out. Minnie was out in her new Shimmering Sea celebration outfit.



I will also tell you now that the lines to see characters were consistently long all throughout the cruise.

The first place I headed to was Sea Treasures. I have been on specialty cruises before where merchandise has sold out within an hour of sailing. I was hoping that this cruise would be different and would be well stocked. We had walked by the shops earlier in the afternoon before they opened and saw the Transatlantic offerings as well as the 25th Anniversary merchandise. Imagine my surprise when we got to the store and not one of those items were left on the racks. They had 4 CMs stationed throughout the store taking orders for things people wanted. Evidently, there was stock on the ship; they just hadn’t been able to unpack it by the time they sailed. I went ahead and ordered 25th Anniversary pins, a Transatlantic T-shirt, Transatlantic pin and a Transatlantic ornament and crossed my fingers. The only shirt they had for the 25th was the spirit jersey and I’m not a fan of those. I did purchase a general DCL shirt that I liked. They had a really nice 2023 teal colored shirt, but they did not have my size and did not restock it during our cruise.

As you can imagine, it had been quite the day. We were tired and since there was no show, we called it an early night.

Upon returning to our room we found this on our bed. A lithograph already boxed for transport commemorating the 25th Anniversary Sailing!





Good night moon!



Total steps: 10,136
Miles: 4.54

Next: Life is the bubbles!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 4
Monday, May 8, 2023
Sea Day 1



I woke up about 6:45 AM and saw sunlight creeping in under the curtain. I couldn’t’ sleep anymore so I got up and checked social media.

It has become a tradition of mine to take a photo from our verandah every morning of our cruise.



I have to say I noticed that the veranda doors on the Dream are different than on the smaller ships. They are more of a suction based system rather than actual locks. Granted, once the seal was breached, the door was easier to open than on the smaller ships. I did however, find myself pinching my hand more when opening and closing the handle against the frame because the handle was so big.



I also like to take a look at the bridge report on the TV. It’s fun to track our course to see how far we have sailed.



We skirted around the Bahamas overnight.

I took a shower. I only mention this because I love the rounded shower. So much room and rain too and no clingly shower curtain to wrestle with. I went to use the hair dryer and found that it was cracked so it would not stay open when you used it. But I managed until I could mention it to Kadek.

As we were leaving our room for breakfast, Kadek called good morning to us as he would every morning of the cruise. I asked if he could replace the broken hair dryer and he said he would do what he could.

I have to say that Kadek was one of the best room stewards we have ever had. He knew exactly when we left and usually had our room ready for the day by the time we returned from breakfast. Our room was always turned down by the time we were done with dinner as well.

I went down to deck 3, Guest Services and got the first photo scavenger hunt of the cruise. We were looking for Logos. You have until 7 PM to finish the hunt and return the paper to guest services. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of this hunt, but I tried to get as many of the others as I could remember. I don’t know what you got for completing these hunts, because I have never received anything. But they are fun and get you familiar with the ship.

We decided to try Royal Palace for a sit down breakfast. I had originally planned to do a couple of breakfasts here, but it never worked out. In the past we always sat alone. We were surprised when they sat us at a table for 6. The server had just cleared the other places when a gentleman, D from Colorado, was seated with us. A few minutes later, another gentleman was seated, Harry from Wisconsin, evidently traveling solo.

While we were surprised, we had a very enjoyable breakfast talking. D’s wife Ann soon joined us as well. She’s a violin teacher. They were sailing with their adult daughter. D had great stories about his father working for the company that supplied parts to the railroad at Disneyland and how he had been to Walt’s house.

I enjoyed the French Toast for breakfast with some OJ.

After breakfast, we made our way back to our stateroom. Kadek had already been in to make the bed and refresh the towels. He even left us a bucket full of ice. This came in handy when refilling our water bottles or having a glass of water at night before bed.

We finished the scavenger hunt and went to Mickey’s Mainsail to buy a DCL 2023 pin.



At about 11:00 AM, we made our way up to Deck 12 to explore. We ended up on Deck 12 forward near Satellite Falls. It was very quiet and windy up there.







We decided to grab a small bite to eat at Flo’s since we had Champagne tasting at noon and didn’t want an empty stomach. I also got my first ice cream cone of the cruise.



Right before noon, we made our way to Pink for our tasting. Of all our cruises, this is the first time we have done a Champagne Tasting. It was right there by the District Lounge where they would host crafts, drawing class and trivia games as well as live entertainment in the evenings.



This is Pink. Before our cruise I really had intended to spend some time in the lounges, but, unfortunately, the timing just never worked out. There’s always next time I guess.



Pink is designed to look like you’re in the champagne. There are bubbles everywhere. At night, the pink elephant from Dumbo projects on the walls. Sadly, we never made it there for happy hour to see it.



Sorry, a little blurry and I hadn’t even had a glass yet!





I love how even the carpets match the theme.



It was a very small space and the seats were not all that comfortable. We were put on the side of the room on the raised platform because there were 5 of us drinking and we had DNM with us in the wheelchair. She can’t drink, but since she is an adult, she is allowed to sit with us. She quietly watches her iPad.

We were introduced to Kenneth, the wine sommelier for Palo and his assistants.

We learned about the process that makes wine sparkling and how it could only be called champagne if it is from the Champagne region of France. We tried 5 different sparkling wines. It was very educational and we tried some very good sparkling wine.

We started with 1 glass and then one of the other sommeliers would come and fill up the next glass as we went so they would be nice and cold and bubbly.



Working our way through the wines.



All of the wines we tasted.



They didn’t waste time cleaning up.



I received a notification from the store that my merchandise that I ordered was available, so we went to Mickey’s Mainsail and picked up my TA pin, TA T-Shirt and TA Ornament.



Afterward, I met DNC and we went to ride the Aqua Duck.



Nobody else wanted to try. The sign said there was a 10 minute wait, but actually it took us 10 minutes to walk up 5 flights of stairs. Just kidding, not quite that long. DNC rode in front (she’s shorter) and I rode in the back of the double tube. We were warned that the water was cold and they were not kidding. It was a rude awakening. Anyway, we enjoyed the ride and decided to do it again since there was no line. This time I sat in the front and DNC rode in the back. It was a much different ride the 2nd time. But the water did not get any warmer.

We decided to go sit in the hot tub in the Quiet Cove to warm up. DNC started talking to a gentleman who was a retired navy pilot. DNC’s dad was a navy pilot. He was recently buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. I talked with a dentist from Cincinnati and a couple from Portland, Oregon that we would see around the ship and on excursions through the cruise.

As the cruise went on we noticed an interesting mix of guests. It was very similar to those on the Panama Canal cruise. Guests were mostly older couples with no children. We saw quite a few young couples as well. We also saw some extended family groups. There were actually more children than I thought there would be for such a long cruise so close to the end of the school year. I didn’t notice a lot of teens until the end of the cruise and I noticed a lot more scheduled events for the 18-20 group. However, I’d say that people our age (late 50’s – early 60’s) was the median.

We noticed some towel animals on the towel bins.



After we got out of the hot tub, I went down to the stateroom to get a shower. Kadek was able to replace the hair dryer which made it so much easier to do my hair.

At 3:00 we went up to the Cove Bar to meet up with our DNeighbors. I ordered the drink of the day, the Bahama Mama. We enjoyed our drinks until it was time to go down and start getting ready for formal night and the captain’s reception.

We went down to the captain’s reception in the atrium around 5:00 and got in line to take some formal pictures with the backgrounds. Before we left home, I preordered the Photo Album and a 10 Photo Digital Package. I was a little disappointed in Shutters at the availability of more candid photos. I did enjoy the life ring photo ops on the ship though. They were serving complimentary sparkling wine, beer and fruit punch. We listened to a very talented violinist serenade us. It was nice to see a lot of people dressed up.



To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 4 ccontinued. . .

Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate which was Deck 3 Aft. It took us a while to remember what deck everything was on. Again we had table 21. I still like the pot with the brushes they used to have.



Our table was located off of the main aisle very close to other tables. Everything felt very close, closer than on the smaller ships. Tonight was the Crush show, which is the exact same thing as Talking with Crush in the parks. We were too far away from the main screen so we did not get an opportunity to talk with Crush.



But we enjoyed watching the fish make different shapes.





It was the Animator’s Palate Crush Show menu, I ordered

Black Truffle Pasta Pursiettes
Bacon Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup
Lemon-Thyme Marinated All Natural Chicken Breast
Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake



My birthday was actually a few days before we left for the cruise, so we celebrated my birthday tonight. Agus brought the chocolate cake and several servers sang to me.





Dinner was actually completed before 7:30 tonight so we had time to change before going to see the show. Service hadn’t improved much. Paloma never seemed to be around, we had to pour our own glasses of wine some nights. When Paloma was there, she seemed to be doing things that Agus should have been doing and vice versa.

The view from our balcony.



We waited in line to go in to the Walt Disney Theater. Formal Mickey and Minnie were greeting guests in the Preludes atrium.



It was weird seeing two tiers in the theater. On the smaller ships, we entered the theater with our neighbors through the Cadillac or Keys lounge so DNM could sit in the handicap section in the front row. This ship can only take 2 people at a time down to the 1st deck of the ship to get to the floor. We would meet them in our seats.







Lee came on stage to introduce Captain Damier. The captain informed us that there were 1470 crew members on board from many different countries. Lee also informed us that we would be moving our clocks ahead 1 hour tonight. This would be our first of six times moving our clocks forward. The disadvantage of sailing eastbound.

The featured performer tonight was Michelle Knight. She is a Broadway actress who began her career at Walt Disney World. Her show took us through her career with song. Her first job at Disney World was as Ariel.





She was also the original Dory in the Finding Nemo Musical at Animal Kingdom. I may have seen her perform.



She later went on to star in Jersey Boys on Broadway.



She then went on to star in Disenchanted as Snow White.



She told us a story about how she fell down the stairs her first night in Jersey Boys, so she wouldn’t be using the stairs on the stage. Well that was soon proven wrong.

At one point, she was singing a well-known and popular Disney song. DNM loves to sing Disney songs and tonight was no exception. DNM was singing out loud from the front row and Michelle noticed her. Michelle broke her own rule, came down the stairs in heals, in front of DNM, took her hand and started singing with her. It was such a magical moment. There were some wet eyes in the house, including Michelle’s after that moment. She later said that music is a universal language and everybody can express themselves through music. She also took the time to acknowledge the ASL interpreters that were on the cruise as well.

After the show, we were waiting for DNJ and DNM to be brought up from Deck 1 when Michelle and her husband exited the theater. Michelle was gracious enough to take the time to talk with us and take a picture with DNM. Michelle was very moved.

Please bear with me for a moment, as I just want to relay an incident that bothered me. We befriended another young lady and her parents onboard this cruise. The young lady is also in a wheelchair. She and DNM would rock out together to the musical performances in the front row for the entire cruise. Both DNM and this young lady are diminutive in size making them appear younger than they are. During dinner, on this night, a woman approached the young lady’s mother and told her that somebody posted on the Facebook group page about how DCL was not enforcing the adult only rule in the adult area after witnessing this young lady enjoying the adult pool with her father. Mind you this is after only 1 day at sea. The mother was now worried and afraid to take her daughter to any adult only events on the ship, including Michelle’s adult only performance later in the cruise, afraid that people would think that the young lady was not old enough. First, this young lady is 26 years old and has just as much right to be in an adult area as the poster. Second, the only HC access lift to a pool is located in the adult area. If this Facebook poster had taken just a second to ask about this young lady rather than rushing to conclusions and immediately post on Facebook about how DCL is not enforcing rules, a very uncomfortable situation could have been avoided. For the record, except for the few times I witnessed families with small children pass through the quiet cove area on the way to/from the Deck 11 forward elevators, I did not see any minors lingering in the adult areas and didn’t consider it a problem that DCL was not enforcing. Thank you.

Now back to my trip report.

After the show, I headed up to the stateroom. DH did not go to the show, so he was settled in for the night. We usually get a card during turn down service reminding us to move our clocks. This cruise, we only received word from Lee, a notification through the chat or on the television.

I dutifully moved our clocks forward an hour , for the first time, and went to bed.

Tonight’s towel animal. A crab.



Steps: 8476
Miles: 3.78

Next: We are in the big room!

 

[o&smom]

People!!!

 

[Roughians_satchel]

People!!!

Right! How do you complain about someone in a wheelchair?? Loving the trip report so far!

 

[dcassetta]

Right! How do you complain about someone in a wheelchair?? Loving the trip report so far!

Especially since it’s not your job as a guest to check peoples ages. If you have a concern, you speak to a crew member and they will take care of it.

 

[Erica1016]

I went down to deck 3, Guest Services and got the first photo scavenger hunt of the cruise.

Is this as special thing on longer sailings? This is so up DH's alley! He would love doing photo scavenger hunts and he wants to know all about it!

I still like the pot with the brushes they used to have.

Same, they were so cute!

Please bear with me for a moment, as I just want to relay an incident that bothered me.

This is such a frustrating anecdote. I hope it wasn't to much of a problem moving forward for them or your neighbor's daughter.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Is this as special thing on longer sailings? This is so up DH's alley! He would love doing photo scavenger hunts and he wants to know all about it!

Yes, the only other time we got to do them was on the Panama Canal cruise which was 14 days and a lot of sea days. My DH enjoyed them too. Hawaiian cruise may have had them and the Austrailian cruises will definitely have them. They are fun. Some are more challenging than others. I'll show pictures of the pages on future posts.

Same, they were so cute!

I know right? I guess they were too bulky to store and were showing their age.

This is such a frustrating anecdote. I hope it wasn't to much of a problem moving forward for them or your neighbor's daughter.

As far as I know there were no other repercussions. We encouraged the mother to keep taking the young lady to adult only events and places that she was interested in.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Especially since it’s not your job as a guest to check peoples ages. If you have a concern, you speak to a crew member and they will take care of it.

Exactly!

 

[ukintheus]

OK. There are so many things that I want to comment on. . First off what a crappy start to the cruise!! You definitely packed your patience panties to deal with all of that. The car service would have really ticked me off. . And the mess at the terminal just sealed the deal. I know we all try our best to overlook it but it’s annoying just the same. LOL. How did your neighbors get on with their luggage? Updates are required!! The FB group stuff is the reason why I give zero about being an active part of FB groups. I do join and I try to be helpful but we don’t participate in anything and once onboard I don’t interact at all. I’m so tired of all the drama. I’m sorry she had to experience that and that she let it get to her.

Anyway. All good updates. You were up super early considering the time change!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

OK. There are so many things that I want to comment on. . First off what a crappy start to the cruise!! You definitely packed your patience panties to deal with all of that. The car service would have really ticked me off. . And the mess at the terminal just sealed the deal. I know we all try our best to overlook it but it’s annoying just the same. LOL. How did your neighbors get on with their luggage? Updates are required!! The FB group stuff is the reason why I give zero about being an active part of FB groups. I do join and I try to be helpful but we don’t participate in anything and once onboard I don’t interact at all. I’m so tired of all the drama. I’m sorry she had to experience that and that she let it get to her.

Anyway. All good updates. You were up super early considering the time change!

Yes, you're right! Yes, I was ticked to say the least. I had one job arranging for transport to the ship and that didn't start things off well. But, they made it work, no harm done. From what I understand, everything was delayed and a lot of people missed their PATs. We were shocked though at the luggage everywhere!

DCL took care of and laundered the clothes that were soaked and dried their luggage. However, they evidently didn't consider it an urgent matter so it was a few days before the clothes were returned. Certainly not in time for the first formal night. They were compensated with robes and various luffa sponges.

I have never joined the FB groups for this reason as well. Too much drama. The other family seemed fine the other times we ran into them on the cruise, so I assume she moved on.

As far as being up early, that would change!

 

[ukintheus]

Yes, you're right! Yes, I was ticked to say the least. I had one job arranging for transport to the ship and that didn't start things off well. But, they made it work, no harm done. From what I understand, everything was delayed and a lot of people missed their PATs. We were shocked though at the luggage everywhere!

DCL took care of and laundered the clothes that were soaked and dried their luggage. However, they evidently didn't consider it an urgent matter so it was a few days before the clothes were returned. Certainly not in time for the first formal night. They were compensated with robes and various luffa sponges.

I have never joined the FB groups for this reason as well. Too much drama. The other family seemed fine the other times we ran into them on the cruise, so I assume she moved on.

As far as being up early, that would change!

I’m looking forward to the rest of it. Glad to hear they at least laundered the items for your neighbors so they had clean clothes but an inconvenience for sure. I will assume your “ticked” level is about the same as mine and so…yeah.

 

[o&smom]

I think we still had the paintbrush pots on the Wonder in February.

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

Just started following along! This is great so far! We did this cruise on the Magic back in 2019 and it was amazing. I’d really like to try it on the Dream though. Back then the Dream only did the 3 or 4 day cruises and it really wasn’t long enough to fully experience the whole ship. We love sea days so having so many of them on the Dream would be lovely. Loving your pics!!