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

[disneyfaninaz]

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

We had the metal palate and brush table markers in January on the Wonder.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

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!!

Welcome! Thanks! You know, we were on the ship 13 nights and still didn't get to do everything on the ship that I had thought we would. There's always next time.

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

Welcome! Thanks! You know, we were on the ship 13 nights and still didn't get to do everything on the ship that I had thought we would. There's always next time.

Exactly!! I showed my DH a couple of your pics and he started talking about another TA!!! I didn’t think he’d be up for doing another one so soon but we’re looking at next year. Thanks!!!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Exactly!! I showed my DH a couple of your pics and he started talking about another TA!!! I didn’t think he’d be up for doing another one so soon but we’re looking at next year. Thanks!!!

You're welcome!

 

[o&smom]

We had the metal palate and brush table markers in January on the Wonder.

Yep, was just coming back to report that I lied. Just looked at photos from our cruise, and it was the new metal one. Guess I just blocked it out because I wanted it to be the other.

 

[bcwife76]

Well that was a frustrating start to your cruise You definitely have more patience than I do lol I'm sorry to hear the luggage of your friends ended up in the water and that they didn't actually get their clothes cleaned and returned for several days! Grrrr

Honestly, imagine complaining about that young lady in the wheelchair People never seem to disappoint. Other than that seems like your first sea day went rather well. Looking forward to your next installments.

 

[mickey squared]

We were on this cruise with you and were at the champagne tasting with you as well. Small World!!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We were on this cruise with you and were at the champagne tasting with you as well. Small World!!

Welcome! It certainly is!

 

[nw6675]

I'm still not over the grasshopper...

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 5
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Sea Day 2



Despite losing an hour of sleep, I was up at about 7:45 AM. Time for the morning report.

I took pics from our balcony. Look, water.



The bridge report.



We got ready for the day and headed up to Cabanas for a small quick breakfast at 9:00 AM.

We went down to the lobby and got the Scavenger Hunt for the day. Today it was Crew Member Costumes.



While there, we got pictures with Belle, since this was a rare instance of no line.



We walked up to Deck 5 looking for cast costumes when we found Pepe’s door!



So this is the 2nd sea day and I haven’t yet played a game of trivia! I think that’s a record. Honestly, I was trying to cut down on how many games I played. I was so frustrated after our January cruise that I decided to eliminate the stress from my life. With that being said, DH and I headed down to the 687 Pub for Ultimate Disney Trivia at 10:00 AM. I have no will power!



This pub is much smaller than on the smaller ships. But it was rather cozy and had comfortable seating groups. DH and I found one in anticipation of our DNs joining us. Nate was hosting trivia this round. He was about to start when a couple approached and asked if they could sit with us. Our DNs hadn’t arrived so we said sure. We ended up partnering with Tricia and her husband Todd. Lo and behold, we actually won. Tricia knew most of the answers, but I helped with a few. We won a cute journal book and DCL luggage tag.



And that would be all of my luck this cruise. No more wins for me.

We ran into Minnie while exploring the ship.



DH discovered that a stateroom a couple doors down was pin trading on their door. DH saw a pin with the red background and Mickey’s glove pointing down. The universal sign of a character meet location. DH really wanted to get it for our DD who is currently a character attendant at the Magic Kingdom, but he didn’t have a pin to trade. He asked DNC if DNM brought her pins to trade, but she hadn’t, so DH went to the shop and bought the cheapest pin he could get to trade for the pin for DD. She loved it by the way.

Speaking of doors, I noticed a lot more elaborate door decorations than I’ve seen on the Magic/Wonder. A few people had these massive light-up from behind magnets and several people even expanded to the wall besides their door.



When we booked activities, we booked a Palo brunch for this day. We originally booked at 12:00 PM. DJ was Gold and was not able to get the 12:00 PM time. DJ and DNC were able to get her added to our reservation the day before, but our time was moved to 11:30 AM. Which was fine with us, thus we didn’t have a big breakfast. This would be our first Palo meal with the Platinum perk.

DH and I were the first to check in at the desk outside the Meridian Bar. Judy checked us in. I immediately recognized her from our 2014 Alaskan Cruise. She was our server in Palo. I confirmed that it was her. She was so great with DNC’s father who was at the beginning of his dementia. He lived in Italy for some years and Judy brought out the Italian chef so DNC’s dad could talk with him in Italian. Anyway, it was great to run in to her.

We sat in the Meridian Lounge until Giovanni, the manager from Italy, called us to enter Palo. We were shocked and amazed that they led us to the private room with a huge round table that sat up to 14 people. Remember, we are only a group of 6. I recalled that on our 2014 cruise, we also got placed in the private room with the view of the scenery of Alaska. It was a beautiful and elegant room.









We were introduced to our server, Victor, from the Dominican Republic. He was awesome and great with DNM. Victor started us off with our mimosas while we perused the menu. You got to select anything from the menu and it was included in the price. Ours was complimentary with Platinum.





He then brought out the bread basket. I also had a lemon blueberry muffin.



He brought us the Antipasti platter and the seafood platter. He then brought out extra prosciutto and cheese for us.



I ordered the Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast with Arborio Rice Risotto. It is my absolute favorite and did not disappoint.



DJ and DNC ordered tea, so Victor brought out the cool timer.



I ordered the Limoncello Almond Torte for dessert.



Some of the décor at Palo.





We rolled out of Palo at about 2:15 PM. That was an amazing brunch and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was such a nice surprise getting that huge room all to ourselves.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 5 continued.

We headed down to our room to change. Here’s a picture from the balcony. Yep, we’re still surrounded by water and it was a beautiful day.



We headed down to the atrium and caught the end of the Fab 8 available for pics on the staircase.



DNC and I also did some work on our scavenger hunt. We were stumped by one costume because the crew was not wearing the same color shirt as the picture, however, the logo gave it away. The DVC representative helped us quite a bit.



A little before 3:00 PM, I decided to join DNs as they played one of the Midship Detective Agency games. We were looking for lost puppies.



We had to go to specific video screen pictures on walls on almost every deck of the ship. We would hold up a card with our badge number on it. The screen would change and the clue video would begin. You were also given a clue sheet to take notes on. Some of the picture frames were forward, some mid and some aft. They were always near the elevators and stairs though. It helped to systematically map out our route to minimize the ups, downs and acrosses. We went up and down elevators, and stairs looking for clues. It certainly helped work off our Palo meal!



It was actually a very clever game and we enjoyed playing all 3.

A little before 3:30 PM, I made my way to the District Lounge to play Frozen Trivia. Nate was once again the host, with this clipboard Shakira. Shakira was always right, because Shakira don’t lie.

I did pretty well, but did not win. DNs and DJ came after near the end. We ended going up to Deck 11 to a seating group with comfy chairs on the starboard side near Cove Café and played games. DH and I ordered a Mai Tai for the drink of the day.

I went to get an ice cream cone and found that the towel menagerie had grown.



Dinner tonight was in Enchanted Garden with the Enchanted Garden menu. Enchanted Garden was located on Deck 2 midship. You could only access it by the midship elevator and stairs. There was also a small staircase under the grand staircase in the atrium.





This was our first time in this restaurant. It reminded me of the old Parrot Cay from the smaller ships.

I wasn’t too terribly hungry after brunch, so I ordered.

Cream of Green Asparagus Soup
Slow Roasted Prime Rib

We went back up to the stateroom to change before heading down to see The Golden Mickeys. I took a quick look outside and caught a bit of the sunset.



I had received a voice mail that my 25th Anniversary Pins were available so I stopped by Mickey’s Mainsail on the way to the Walt Disney Theater and picked them up.





The show was good. The cast was excellent. It was, however, slightly different than on the smaller ships. Afterwards, I grabbed DH and we went up on top to take some pics.







It was time to call it a day and move our clocks ahead yet another hour tonight. This was the 2nd time during the cruise.



Our towel animal tonight was a snail. Good Night!



Steps: 8476
Miles: 3.78

Next: You have got to be kidding me!

 

[bcwife76]

How fabulous to have the private room for brunch Looks delicious as always. Our August cruise will also be our first as Platinum so looking forward to that free brunch

 

[ukintheus]

All these at sea days would suit us down to the ground. Congrats on winning the trivia!! Palo brunch sounds like it was as good as ever and even better for being in the private room.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 5
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Sea Day 3



All this moving our clocks ahead is catching up with us. We slept in until after 9 this morning.

Here’s the view out of our balcony. Yep, the water is still there.



And here is the bridge report. We are still moving across the Atlantic.



We went up to Cabanas for breakfast at 10:00 AM. We found out from our DNs that their oldest daughter, who is pregnant and due the first week of June had started labor 3 weeks early. We were anxiously awaiting the news of their new grandbaby. Their first! See how I worked that in.



Afterwards we went to Guest Services to get the Scavenger Hunt of the day. We were looking for carpets.



I must have been going to trivia withdrawal today, because I played 4 games. So much for wanting to reduce stress! At 10:45 AM I headed to the District Lounge for the first to play Ultimate Disney Trivia. Math from Brazil was the host. Half way through he started repeating questions that were asked the last time I played Ultimate Disney Trivia. Unfortunately, it didn’t give me an advantage as I didn’t get enough of the 1st half questions correct. At every trivia game I played, there was always a tie, and it was almost always with groups that got 100% of the questions right. Multiple tie breakers had to be used. It got to the point that the CMs had used all of their go to tie breakers.

I walked to the shops and found out that they were now displaying all the TA and 25th merchandise that they had left. It did not last long. I also noticed that there was hardly ever anybody in the jewelry and watch stores.

I then went to Lion King Trivia in the D Lounge at 12:00 PM. I played by myself and didn’t do well at all. I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie.

At 12:30 I headed back to the District Lounge for Disney Trivia. I ended up playing with Sam, a Cast Member at Disney World and her husband. We got 21 out of 25.

Afterwards DH and I grabbed lunch at Cabanas. They had Pork Schnitzel today. I loved it!

At 2:00 PM, DH and I went to cheese tasting at Animator’s Palate. Evidently this is a popular event. The line stretched down the entire length of the portside hall on Deck 3. There were other complimentary tastings and seminars during the cruise, for instance olive oils. Unfortunately, they seemed to conflict with our tastings or other events.



The seas were getting a little rougher.



We were given 5 different cheeses to taste. The CM conducting the seminar was reading off of his PowerPoint notes so his presentation was kind of awkward.







Surprisingly enough, not all of the places had been filled, so some of us got seconds. I really liked the Boursin.

After the tasting, it was one more trivia game for me. Disney Trivia was being played in the D Lounge. What I didn’t realize was that it was Princess & The Frog trivia. I like the movie, but I couldn’t remember much detail. DH was with me, but he was no help. Marianna had us trade our answers with our neighbors. How embarrassing.

We heard from our DNs that they were at Venellope's. We met them and got some 25th anniversary chocolate covered strawberries. All the treats looked yummy!







We turned in our photograph scavenger hunt paper to Guest Services.

Then what was becoming an afternoon event, we went to the seats outside Cove Café and played Yahtzee and a couple of other dice games we brought us with DNs and I ordered a Pina Colava.



Dinner tonight was back in Royal Palace. We had the Royal Palace menu.



I ordered:

Potage Parmentier (Leek and Potato Soup)
Chatteaubriand- Roasted Filet Steak

And the piece de resistance for dessert:

Grand Marnier Soufflé



I knew I would not be getting chocolate soufflé at Palo, so I was looking forward to this.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 5 continued

At 7:30 PM, DCL was having their Shimmering Sea Celebration in the Atrium. Basically it was a short speech by the captain thanking us for sailing with them all these years and the characters dressed in their Shimmering Sea outfits. Which are so cute!











Then the characters scattered to meet with the guests. Honestly, it was a very underwhelming celebration.

The main show in the Walt Disney Theater was Jamie Raven. DJ and I went together. He is a magician who came in second in the Britain’s Got Talent show to a 3 legged dog and also performed for King Charles III. Jamie, not the dog!



He interacted with a few people from the audience and his magic was astounding. Overall it was a very good show. I did not make it to his adult only show where he performed the act he performed for King Charles.

A little before 10:00 PM, DNC, DJ, DH and I headed up to Deck 12 port side to get in position to watch the Shimmering Seas Light the Sky fireworks at 10:15 PM. The weather had turned a bit cloudy and cooler this afternoon and was iffy for fireworks, but I guess it cleared enough to give the fireworks the go ahead. I was really looking forward to this celebration. Boy, would I be disappointed.

First, there were no fancy backdrops like they have for the sail away or pirate parties. Two entertainment crew members came out in an aqua polo shirt and white pants. They started their little spiel about the 25th Anniversary and wanted to hear from guests about their favorite memories. So, they headed out to the audience to grab some guests to bring on stage. In the meantime, music was playing. Instead of interrupting the song after they got their guests, they played the entire song, which was a waste of time. Each CM interviewed the guests. We could barely hear or understand what they were saying and frankly, their memories were very typical and not anything to write home about. They repeated this one more time. I was very underwhelmed and disappointed at this point. All of this could have been done earlier in the cruise and videotaped to show on the Dumbotron. Finally, they announced the fireworks and started playing the new 25th Anniversary song, which I really like.

Everything started out great. We had a primo spot to watch.







Then, all of the sudden the fireworks stopped and the song kept going. What the ?!?

That was the lamest fireworks show I have ever seen Disney produce! At the time, I thought they could have at least shortened the song to end with the fireworks. Needless to say, my one and only chance to experience Disney’s 25th Anniversary at Sea was a total dud! I'm glad I got to see what I saw though.

At 10:30 PM, DNs, DJ and I went to the WD Theater to see Michelle Knight’s A Knight Out adult only show.



While we were waiting for the show to start, DNC had heard from her daughter. DNC and DNJ were now grandparents of a healthy strapping grandson at 7 lbs, 11 ounces! Congratulations!!

Evidently, now that she is not on Broadway. Michelle formed and now fronts for an all-girls band called “Glass Ceiling” out of Orlando. She started with a Heart song and went on to sing Tina Turner’s "Simply the Best”, a Bonnie Raitt ballad and ended with Pat Benatar's ”Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” It was a great way to end a rather disappointing evening.

Lee was standing at the top of the theater when we exited, I almost asked him about the fireworks, but he kind of chagrined earlier when it was brought up, so I didn’t say anything. We would find out more the next day.

I headed up to our stateroom. We had received our invitation to the Gold, Platinum and Pearl Reception the next day. Our towel animal was an elephant.



Thankfully we did not have to move our clocks ahead tonight, and I went to bed.

Steps: 11,798
Miles: 5.29

UPDATE: So, the next day we found out what happened with the Shimmering Seas Light the Sea Fireworks show. As it was explained to DNC, a teenager (whether intentional or not, we do not know) actually entered the restricted area where they were launching the fireworks. Therefore, understandably for safety reasons (safety being one of the Disney Keys) they had to abort the rest of the program. Gee, thanks kid! You blew my one and only chance to see this show. To my knowledge no comments were made publicly about the incident. I really wish we could have seen the complete fireworks show. Not to say that I was still disappointed in the pre-show.

Next: C’est Magnifique!

 

[Erica1016]

I'm very much enjoying your trip report and how you're describing the variety of activities and events going on! I'm sorry about your fireworks getting cut short and completely agree that the "show" was pretty disappointing.

I have another quesiton about the daily scavenger hunt. Do you get any kind of recognition or acknowledgement for participating? I mean, I'd do it regardless because that's right up our alley! I'm actually trying not to look at the picture too closely so we can enjoy the surprise when we get to do it.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I'm very much enjoying your trip report and how you're describing the variety of activities and events going on! I'm sorry about your fireworks getting cut short and completely agree that the "show" was pretty disappointing.

I have another quesiton about the daily scavenger hunt. Do you get any kind of recognition or acknowledgement for participating? I mean, I'd do it regardless because that's right up our alley! I'm actually trying not to look at the picture too closely so we can enjoy the surprise when we get to do it.

Welcome! Thanks! From what I understand at the end of the cruise they draw randomly from all of the completed sheets returned, but I don't know what you get, because I've never got anything. But it is a fun way to get to know the ship and interact with the crew members.

 

[bcwife76]

Congrats to your friends on the birth of their grandson

So, so disappointing about the fireworks!!! Esp due to that reason.....sigh. We won't get to see them at all as our cruise is a Northern Europe itinerary.

Thank you for the photos in Vanellopes. Our oldest DD turns 15 during our cruise and instead of ordering one of the cakes or cupcakes we thought we'd take her to V's on her actual birthday and let her choose whatever treats she would like

 

[ukintheus]

Such a shame about the fireworks, like @bcwife76 we won't get to see them on our Alaska cruise either. It would have been nice if they could have tried again on a different night but maybe they don't keep more than they use on each sailing. We did the Olive Oil tasting on our PC cruise and it was interesting. Oh, and Pina Colava has become a cruise staple for me - those things are delicious!!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Such a shame about the fireworks, like @bcwife76 we won't get to see them on our Alaska cruise either. It would have been nice if they could have tried again on a different night but maybe they don't keep more than they use on each sailing. We did the Olive Oil tasting on our PC cruise and it was interesting. Oh, and Pina Colava has become a cruise staple for me - those things are delicious!!

Yes, it's been awhile since we've been on a cruise with fireworks, so it was a bummer. That's what I figured that they can only store so many fireworks onboard. Some sort of public explanation would have been nice. Pirate night made up for it though. The Pina Colava was very good, but the ones in Hawaii are better!