POLY, BLT & THE DREAM, WITH A TEEN AND A TWEEN…APRIL 2016***COMPLETED 8/15****

[nenglim]

Anyway, we headed into Cabanas for lunch. And here I will give you the most valuable piece of advice I could give someone going on this ship…
ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, GO FIND A TABLE TOGETHER BEFORE YOU GO GET YOUR FOOD!! Put something down on it to save it and THEN go fill up your plates! Otherwise, you will end up like us and losing each other at the buffet and then circling, and circling, and circling….UGH…to try to find your family and eat lunch together!

and if you kept going there are more tables the further in you go... I am missing that crab claw right now. I was getting 3rds and sometimes 4th helpings of that crab claw and shrimp...

 

[nenglim]

There was nobody in either club yet, and DD at this point was thinking the VIBE looked better than the EDGE and she was a little bummed. She ended up loving the EDGE though once she met people to hang out with!

My middle son was so bummed when he saw the EDGE after seeing the Vibe. He is tall enough to pass for 14 he said. This one wanted so much to be in Vithebe. We asked if he could go in and be with his brother. i read somewhere that they will do that sometimes but only when they are close to 14. He just turned 12 when we cruised. He ended up enjoying the EDGE because he kept winning the contests! It became his mission to attend EDGE only when there are contests and came back with several DREAM novelties...sunglasses, dream bandanna.

 

[Stitch808]

Reading your TR is making me want to plan a trip with days at WDW and a cruise! Can't wait to hear more about your cruise!

 

[buzzrelly]

My middle son was so bummed when he saw the EDGE after seeing the Vibe. He is tall enough to pass for 14 he said. This one wanted so much to be in Vithebe. We asked if he could go in and be with his brother. i read somewhere that they will do that sometimes but only when they are close to 14. He just turned 12 when we cruised. He ended up enjoying the EDGE because he kept winning the contests! It became his mission to attend EDGE only when there are contests and came back with several DREAM novelties...sunglasses, dream bandanna.

That's Funny! DD never even mentioned contests…I guess she didn't win any!

Reading your TR is making me want to plan a trip with days at WDW and a cruise! Can't wait to hear more about your cruise!

You should! It's definitely the best of both worlds!

Thanks for reading along

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 11, 2016: STATEROOM 9574

When I left off when we were checking out the Vibe….


Grammy looks pretty cool in here



I was just going to type, "at 1:30 we got a text that our room was ready," but THAT didn't happen! I'm still thinking I'm in WDW, I guess! Anyway, we got into our room around 1:30…


My favorite pillow, and it's available to purchase for the low, low price of $188...


One of the bathrooms, this is the one with the shower. The other bathroom just has a toilet and a sink.


DS ready for Muster!



Yay! Port Adventure tickets!



Our invitation to a DVC Member event..DM and I went to this because there were going to be free gifts and drinks. The gifts turned out to be baseball hats (which will all be in my tag-sale this weekend, if anyone is interested ), and the drink was champagne, or sparkling wine. The pitch was interesting, and they played a couple of fun games. I'm SURE if I HAD any money I would have bought more points on the spot! But, alas, I just purchased my points a couple years ago, and we are in the middle of trying to buy a bigger house to live in, so this was not the time to buy more…someday though . There was also a sign-up to meet with a rep and you get 3 Anytime FastPasses for everyone in your party. I did that too since we were heading back to WDW after the cruise, and you can never have too many FastPasses


I just liked this picture in the room…someday I would like to try out the whole fleet



More of our room up next...

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 11, 2016: WINGS, MUSTER AND BON VOYAGE!!


DS was hungry, as usual, and ordered Chicken Wings from Room Service. Room Service on the ship is FREE , so these babies just cost a couple bucks for tip…



He enjoyed them and ordered them most every day for a snack.

I decorated our door with some magnets I had made on Etsy. It looked cute, but PATHETIC compared to some people's!




And my EMPTY Fish Extender…just sad


I thought about participating in one of the FE groups, but opted not to for various reasons. For those who don't know what this is, people sign up in groups to trade gifts. A quick Google search brings up many, many ideas. Here's one…


You hang the FE and people that have signed up from your group leave little gifts for each person in your traveling party. I thought about joining in, but I'm not crafty so I'd have to buy one of those on Etsy, which I think is half the fun. And honestly, I couldn't be bothered worrying about buying gifts for strangers and lugging them all the way to Florida. I know, I know…

Anyway, our FE stayed empty and it didn't even bother me, like I thought it might. It was pretty much a non-issue.

After we thoroughly checked out our room, it was time to head to the Muster Drill, which is mandatory. It's the least fun thing you can do on a cruise, but totally necessary and took no more than 30 minutes or so. We had to go to one of the theaters and check-in. It was really organized and they KNEW the people who were missing and kept announcing their names, so you really can't try to skip out of this.

After that, it was onto FUN…the Sail Away Deck Party!!

We all got some Frozen Beverages to celebrate...




DD LITERALLY got a "Frozen" Beverage


We were soon on our way to The Bahamas!

 

[ariane37]

Free room service, Woo-Hoo that would probably be the thing my youngest would love most if we took a cruise!

OMG that FE thing. It does sound like such a neat thing to do but anything where you have to get crafty gives me hives. And my door would most likely not look any more decorated than yours, which BTW I thought looked adorable!
I've always wanted to do matching shirts for Disney so last year I ordered some iron-on transfers. Screwed up the first shirt I did big time and decided to just forget the whole idea. If I want matching shirts I'm going to have to spend the big bucks to buy the whole shirt already done lol, so coming up with gift ideas for strangers on a cruise would seriously not work in my favor!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Looks like a great sail away day, the food on cruises always amazes me, so many choices!

 

[buzzrelly]

Free room service, Woo-Hoo that would probably be the thing my youngest would love most if we took a cruise!

OMG that FE thing. It does sound like such a neat thing to do but anything where you have to get crafty gives me hives. And my door would most likely not look any more decorated than yours, which BTW I thought looked adorable!
I've always wanted to do matching shirts for Disney so last year I ordered some iron-on transfers. Screwed up the first shirt I did big time and decided to just forget the whole idea. If I want matching shirts I'm going to have to spend the big bucks to buy the whole shirt already done lol, so coming up with gift ideas for strangers on a cruise would seriously not work in my favor!

HaHa! I LOVE those matching shirts, but I'm like you! At least you TRIED to do them yourself! I didn't even bother trying to make Magnets. I tried looking up how to make them and it involved downloading and printing…ugh. Too much! Easy was created for people like us

Looks like a great sail away day, the food on cruises always amazes me, so many choices!

And it's all FREE (if you ignore the fact hat you just paid thousands of dollars for the cruise )!

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 11, 2016: ANIMATOR'S PALATE

After the Sail Away Party, we went back to our room to change and get ready for dinner. I had my appointment scheduled to meet the DVC rep to get my 3 Anytime FastPasses, so I got ready first and told the gang that I'd meet them at the restaurant. As it turns out, the DVC rep took longer than I thought and, as much as I would have liked to, I did not end up buying more points

Anyway, the fact that I ran a little late for our first dinner probably wasn't the best way to start off with our Table Mates. You see, when cruising, you get assigned to Rotational Dining and you rotate through all the dining rooms on the ship. But they also assign you Table Mates and those people rotate with you every night at dinner. I showed up to our first restaurant, Animator's Palate, about 10 minutes late. We had the early seating which starts at 5:45, so I showed up probably around 5:55, or so. Honestly, I felt super awkward when I came in and maybe it wasn't even because of that. I just felt like they had already started ordering (which was totally fine with me), but the servers seemed flustered and not overly friendly. On our first (and only other) Disney cruise on the Magic, our servers were wonderful. They were friendly and attentive and pretty much got to know us really well after just one night. Our servers on the Dream were always messing up, and they always seemed to be rushing around and sweating.There is a Server and his assistant and when it works well (like on the Magic), they are very well coordinated and helpful. But these two just didn't work well together and always seemed out of sync with each other. One night, DD just wanted plain rolls because the bread they brought out was fancy or something. Well it took FOREVER and 2 requests for them to bring them out, and when they did, they served them to our table mates! They proceeded to eat them because they didn't know we had requested them but then we had to request the rolls again…ugh. Just stupid stuff like that made the experience kind of aggravating. hard to explain unless you experience it, but a couple things I would do differently on our next cruise: 1) Request to be seated at our own table (without table mates), and 2) Maybe skip more of the MDRs all together. The food at the MDRs was okay, but I tend to like more simpler food. I love salad and even the salads were kind of Meh, to me. One of my favorite dinners was our last night, DM and I hung out in to room to pack and we ordered room service and just skipped the MDR all together. It was very nice and relaxing. I think I would definitely do that more. Or perhaps, I would try Cabanas for dinner. The selections are the same was the MDRs, but maybe would be quicker and a less stuffy atmosphere.

Another reason we didn't love the MDRs was because we didn't really click with our table mates. They were very nice people but after a minute or two of small talk each night, we just had absolutely NOTHING in common with them and nothing more to say to each other. We basically just politely ignored each other and tried to pretend it wasn't super awkward

Sorry this post is so "wordy." I just wanted to kind of explain our feeling about the MDRs in general. That's not to say that we had an awful time at dinner each night.

As I mentioned, our first dinner was at Animator's Palate. This was our favorite of the MDRs for both food and atmosphere.


As I said, I was late getting there so when I did, I was kind of rushing to sit, take pictures and look at the menu at the same time…this is what a rushed picture looks like...


After a couple minutes, Crush came out…

This is VERY cool. I would not skip this MDR on a future cruise. He picks people out of the audience and talks to them, much like he does at EPCOT. Makes for a fun time.

Here's is my favorite thing out of ALL the MDRs. I could have eaten this every night. It's an appetizer and I think it's called, Black Truffle Pursettes. So yummy…



DD got steak…



Roast Chicken for DM...


Pasta for me…I would have preferred it without the meat sauce...


I don't remember what DS got because I didn't take a picture of it

Here's my dessert sampler. I got these most every night so I could try a little bit of everything. I am SUPER fussy about my food, but NOT when it comes to dessert


Another thing about the MDRs…they take a LONG time! We got out of there at 7:30. It's fine once in a while, but I don't really like sitting at dinner for almost 2 hours every night.

As you can see, I sound like I was cranky, but in reality I wasn't. These are just my opinions as I look back on the experience.


And that concludes our first dinner...

 

[nenglim]

Another reason we didn't love the MDRs was because we didn't really click with our table mates. They were very nice people but after a minute or two of small talk each night, we just had absolutely NOTHING in common with them and nothing more to say to each other. We basically just politely ignored each other and tried to pretend it wasn't super awkward

This is my husband's pet peeve. His only requirement when we cruised was NO tablemates. there are 5 of us and I specified no tablemates. we had the unfortunate experience when we were at Biergarten Restaurant at EPCOT and I didn't know that you get seated with others. well that was the first and last for us there... It was very uncomfortable and awkward. Our group and their group spoke a second language. but everybody spoke English when exchanging pleasantries. My husband and I will not speak our language when in company of others that don't as a rule. I always felt its rude. But when they started speaking in their tongue, we started speaking in ours. It was like the U.N.!!!

How did you like the early dining? we had late seating and loved it. also we tend to eat on the later side as well at home so we were fine with it. did you like the Animators Palate on the Magic more? I heard the AP on the Magic was better than the Dream. I have not been on the Magic so i wouldnt know

 

[buzzrelly]

This is my husband's pet peeve. His only requirement when we cruised was NO tablemates. there are 5 of us and I specified no tablemates. we had the unfortunate experience when we were at Biergarten Restaurant at EPCOT and I didn't know that you get seated with others. well that was the first and last for us there... It was very uncomfortable and awkward. Our group and their group spoke a second language. but everybody spoke English when exchanging pleasantries. My husband and I will not speak our language when in company of others that don't as a rule. I always felt its rude. But when they started speaking in their tongue, we started speaking in ours. It was like the U.N.!!!

How did you like the early dining? we had late seating and loved it. also we tend to eat on the later side as well at home so we were fine with it. did you like the Animators Palate on the Magic more? I heard the AP on the Magic was better than the Dream. I have not been on the Magic so i wouldnt know

That was our first experience with table mates, and that will be my FIRST request next cruise! When we went on the Magic in 2012, there was seven of us so we had our own table. I was actually hoping we'd really click and make lifelong friends at the table!

Early dining works for us because we eat early at home, usually between 5-6. If I had the late dinner, I would probably eat more because I'd need a pre-dinner snack around that time. I know many people enjoy the late seating, but it just wouldn't work for us.

I LOVED AP on the Dream, but I don't think it was updated on the Magic in 2012, so maybe it's better now?

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 11, 2016: GETTING A LITTLE GOOFY


After dinner, we went back to the room to find our room steward had made it up for bedtime already. As much as our dinner servers were kind of duds, I really liked our room steward. I would have LOVED to take her home with me and come home to this every night…




The sun was setting…


This cruise was our first with a veranda, and I now I just couldn't see myself not having one. We LOVED just stepping outside and watching the water and the sky. So peaceful.


DD changed and went to the EDGE…


DM and I went to see one of the shows, The Golden Mickeys. This show was AMAZING! One of our favorites, for sure!



This is a mirror in one of the bathrooms, I just HAD to get a picture of it!



DM and I just wandered around after the show, checking out the ship. We noticed Captain Mickey was out taking photos and the wait wasn't very long, so we said, "What the heck?!"




We ended up meeting up with DD at the Animation Class. It was kind of like the old class from DHS, but not as good. You could tell the girl wasn't an artist like the instructors at DHS. But it was fun, and we ended up drawing Goofy. When we were done, he came running out and through the class. I got just one quick pic of him running past DD...


DD went back to the EDGE and DM and I wandered up to Deck 10 to start what would become our nightly tradition. I made a cup of tea and she got a hot chocolate to bring back to the room. The kids came in around midnight, but I barely heard them because I was already I am not much of a night owl. I am generally up between 5-6am and it's a struggle for me to stay up past 11! Oddly enough, I worked nights for 9 years…and I never converted to being a "night person," I just ended up being tired ALL the time!

That concludes our first day. Up next…Nassau and Atlantis!

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 12, 2016: TOTALLY TOASTED

Good Morning, Nassau


We had booked the Atlantis Aquaventure excursion for today. We woke around 7 and headed to Cabanas for the buffet breakfast…










And because I didn't take any pics of the actual FOOD this morning, here's DD eating and annoyed that I made her stop for a photo . I can just hear her now, "Mooooommm…"


At least we didn't all lose each other this morning since we went and chose a table before we got our food. Then everyone split up and knew where to come back to. Made life MUCH easier!

We had time to go up on deck to take a pic after breakfast. That's a Royal Caribbean ship in the background which wasn't half as pretty as OUR ship



If you look closely, you can actually catch a glimpse of Atlantis in the background.


We met up with the group of fellow Aquaadventure-ers (Is that what we were ???) in a theater and they walked us down and out of the ship. It gets a little confusing so you really have to keep up. There's a mass of people and you don't want to follow the wrong group, like we almost did


We figured it out quickly, however, and we were soon on our way...



Up next, Atlantis!

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 12, 2016: THE LOST CITY

The bus ride to Atlantis took about 15 minutes. There wasn't a whole lot to see on the way, but I snapped this quick pic of our ship and the RC ship that was docked next to us. Kind of a neat perspective...



When we got off at Atlantis, we were kind of herded in a big group and were told to follow a lady with a flag. It was a little bit of a hike to get where we were going, but we took some pretty pics along the way…


Trying to keep up with the group and still get pictures...


We finally reached our destination, the Lazy River…or the CRAZY River is what I like to call it, since it's a totally WILD ride! But first we hit the girls room and I thought this display was cute…


We found DM a seat…


And then we went off to the CRAZY River. Sorry, I don't have any pics since this is where I took the GoPro out and put my iPhone away. There's a link to my YouTube video at the beginning of my trip report, and that has a whole BUNCH of footage from the CRAZY River. It was actually really fun, much more so than I expected. DM didn't end up coming around with us but I think maybe she could have looking back. We went around a couple of times and then the kids went on one of the huge water slides (also shown in the YouTube video), while I sat with DM.

When they returned, it was around 12:30 and we were all hungry. Lunch was included in the price of this excursion, and there were a few different places to choose from. We went to a place that had burgers, salads and wraps. I had a wrap and I think it was fine, but nothing great.

After lunch, we wandered around for a little bit just taking pictures and enjoying the atmosphere…






And then we went searching for the Fish Tanks. They were actually REALLY hard to find and we got a little lost along the way.


TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[nenglim]

And then we went off to the CRAZY River. Sorry, I don't have any pics since this is where I took the GoPro out and put my iPhone away. There's a link to my YouTube video at the beginning of my trip report, and that has a whole BUNCH of footage from the CRAZY River. It was actually really fun, much more so than I expected. DM didn't end up coming around with us but I think maybe she could have looking back. We went around a couple of times and then the kids went on one of the huge water slides (also shown in the YouTube video), while I sat with DM.

When they returned, it was around 12:30 and we were all hungry. Lunch was included in the price of this excursion, and there were a few different places to choose from. We went to a place that had burgers, salads and wraps. I had a wrap and I think it was fine, but nothing great.

After lunch, we wandered around for a little bit just taking pictures and enjoying the atmosphere…

Atlantis looks like fun! Meanwhile, We just stayed on the ship and did not disembark. We figured we would enjoy the ship, the pools and the Aquaduck. There were a lot of people that had the same idea, so Aquaduck was not a walk on. Next year, i am thinking about going to Atlantis. I think my daughter who will be 7 by then will enjoy it. Shes a little on the cautious side. I have read a lot of mixed reviews on the Atlantis excursion. Did you book direct through disney? Was it hard to navigate around the hotel? I had read some trip reports of people getting lost and spending most of the time looking for the beach, or the restaurant that matches the ticket they bought?!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Hello, I just found your report and I'm enjoying it so far. I would love to do a Disney cruise some time, but unfortunately I have not been able to convince DW. She just doesn't like the idea being "out on the water in a boat". I know people say the ships are so big you barely notice you are on them, but I'm not sure she's ever going to change her mind. Reading TRs like yours helps get a better idea what cruising is like. Maybe I'll take our girls and leave DW at home!

 

[ariane37]

I just realized I never responded after your previous update! I've seen the Animators Palate on TV on shows about Disney cruise ships and it looks like a neat restaurant The table-mate thing seems like it would always be a hit or miss. One of my good friends has been on tons of cruises (not Disney) and has usually had table-mates and she's had both real positive and "eh" experiences. It would worry me until I met them for the first time, I'd be constantly wondering how they were going to be!

I like the pictures of Atlantis I think if I ever went on a cruise I'd be seeing a show every night, sounds like my kind of thing.

 

[buzzrelly]

Atlantis looks like fun! Meanwhile, We just stayed on the ship and did not disembark. We figured we would enjoy the ship, the pools and the Aquaduck. There were a lot of people that had the same idea, so Aquaduck was not a walk on. Next year, i am thinking about going to Atlantis. I think my daughter who will be 7 by then will enjoy it. Shes a little on the cautious side. I have read a lot of mixed reviews on the Atlantis excursion. Did you book direct through disney? Was it hard to navigate around the hotel? I had read some trip reports of people getting lost and spending most of the time looking for the beach, or the restaurant that matches the ticket they bought?!

Well, now you just threw a kink into my plan for next year…I was thinking of staying on the ship for the shorter lines It's okay…after I posted these pics, I asked DH if he'd like to go here and he kind of wants to. So chances are we would have gone again anyway.

The lazy river was really fun, and I really should have tried more of the slides. We did book through Disney and it was crazy expensive, like $180/pp. If DH wants to try it next year, maybe we'd try the Comfort Inn and try to get in for a little less.

I hav to agree that it was tricky finding our way around. It took us WAAAYYYYYYY longer than it should have to find those Fish Tanks. I thought they'd be super easy to find. By the time we found them, DS was so annoyed and we didn't stay longer than 10 minutes or so. Ugh!

Hello, I just found your report and I'm enjoying it so far. I would love to do a Disney cruise some time, but unfortunately I have not been able to convince DW. She just doesn't like the idea being "out on the water in a boat". I know people say the ships are so big you barely notice you are on them, but I'm not sure she's ever going to change her mind. Reading TRs like yours helps get a better idea what cruising is like. Maybe I'll take our girls and leave DW at home!

And thank you for joining in! This particular cruise would be a GREAT way to ease into cruising. I felt like we we barely away from land…or maybe try the 3-night where you don't have any "at sea days." I think it would be a great way for a couple to get some alone time, and in fact, that's why I booked another cruise for next year with DH!

 

[nenglim]

Well, now you just threw a kink into my plan for next year…I was thinking of staying on the ship for the shorter lines It's okay…after I posted these pics, I asked DH if he'd like to go here and he kind of wants to. So chances are we would have gone again anyway.

We had 30 to 40 min wait times at the aquaduck than morning. I figured for our next trip, I would like to try the Aquaduck at night during one of the shows. They put lights on the tube. It looked so cool! We will be going on the Dream again so unless they change all the shows we would just pick 1 that we werent fond of to miss. Which 1 show would be difficult to pick. I didnt care for Hades, but my sons absolutely loved that show.

Wow, 189pp is expensive! Did that include any alcoholic drink at least? I wonder if Costco would have a better deal?

Loving your trip report... i am reliving our cruise through your eyes....