Last week we were on the 4-night Dream cruise. I have a few random comments I thought I'd add in one post, rather than several. For reference this was our family's 4th cruise (and my 5th), all on DCL, though this was the first time on the Dream (and we've never been on the Fantasy), so some will compare to those cruises.
Dining:
Kids Clubs and other Activities:
Spa:
For the shows:
Other random stuff:
Dining:
- We did the Remy Dessert Experience. Although it was expensive, we really enjoyed it. The desserts are not so large that they ruined dinner (this was a concern). I might post more detail about this later.
- We did both a dinner and brunch at Palo. Both were good, though I ate too much at dinner and made myself sick... Had to control myself better at brunch since we had the Remy dessert experience in the afternoon! Same server both times. At dinner, he was fine but only so-so (compared to past servers) and was apologizing numerous times throughout the meal regarding timing and getting held up (but, honestly it seemed like most of the holdup was him talking with other tables). At brunch he was excellent - like a totally different person. For reference (since I had asked earlier - not looking for a debate here) we tipped him $30 at dinner and $20 at brunch).
- We liked all the dining rooms, though we didn't care for the menu at Enchanted Garden much. Serving team was very good and our main server had actually been on the Magic previously, but switched to the Dream (kind of surprised - I thought they would usually want to go the other way).
- The Eye Scream station mainly had chocolate and vanilla, plus later on banana and strawberry. I seem to remember other ships having more variety in the past. Did they cut this back to encourage people to go to Vanellope's?
- We gave in and got ice cream/gelato at Vanellope's the last night - too tempting not to. As gelato goes (or even ice cream), it's not the best, but it was still better than the Eye Scream options. I liked having this option.
Kids Clubs and other Activities:
- My younger daughter would have been happy to spend the whole trip in the Oceaneer lab/club. Much more to do than on the older ships. My daughter did miss the play area (ship) from the other ships.
- The older one was 14 and decided she liked Edge better than Vibe. But, she said it was not as good as prior Edge clubs - she said the games played on previous cruises were more her style (things like card games and board games) and the mix/personality of kids was not as good (this cruise was 3/4 boys in Edge, it seemed).
- The checkin/checkout at the kids clubs seemed more haphazard than on prior cruises. There were always lines, and I would see some CMs standing around at the front apparently without doing anything while others were waiting. I understand the need for slower checkout, but you'd think at least checkin should move quickly.
- The princess meets went well, with the tickets. They have done a nice job of letting you schedule those meets without feeling like you have to wait forever.
- The pool areas don't seem adequate. On our at-sea day, the Mickey pool was closed at one point(!). At one point, the Donald pool (aka the human stew) had more than 50 people in it (not an exaggeration) and another 18 sitting on the edge with their legs in the water. For some reason my daughter wanted to go in that pool and found an open space.
- Aquaduck is cool. Too bad the lines are often so long.
Spa:
- My wife went to the foot analysis thing. She liked the product but the price was way too much. We were commenting that no one would pay that cost, then the next day I heard someone talking in the gym about having bought the inserts...
- She would have booked a spa treatment (and has on prior cruises), but didn't want to deal with the hard sell (or even soft sell) for spa products afterward. I wonder if other people are put off from using spa services because of this?
- Why is the fitness center only open until 10? We are usually more likely to go late at night than wake up early to go. As it was, I went only one time on the cruise (I was wanting at least twice) due to the limited hours. Many fitness centers are 24Hr, so I am surprised this one wasn't.
For the shows:
- Golden Mickeys always surprises me (in a good way) as to how much I'll like it. Every time I see it, it's been a little different from the previous cruise, which is nice.
- I had seen the Villains show before, and it's fine, but still not one of my favorites. Some parts are funny, but overall, it wasn't any better than I remembered.
- The magician (Mike Super) was good, and I don't know how he did his tricks. But, I was surprised that I had seen almost all those same tricks before, by other magicians (including a semi-professional magician friend who used to do the exact same one back in college 25 years ago). So, that was slightly underwhelming.
- I was disappointed by Believe. The production was good, and it was nice for them to bring in some of the less common Disney stories, but I though the story was, for lack of a better term, stupid. It would've been much better if the (almost irrelevant) broader story were replaced. After seeing Dreams 4 times already, I was ready for something new, but I think Dreams is a much better show.
- Wow, the theater fills up (earlier, and more full than our prior cruises ever seemed). We arrived 10-15 minutes ahead and always ended up in the balcony. I would guess many parties had to split up or miss the show, which seems like bad timing.
- The Jack Sparrow pirate show seemed decent, but it was so crowded that we couldn't get a decent viewing place (didn't get there early enough, but also just not enough space). We at least could see fireworks, though. I felt the layout of other ships was better
- So, overall, I was actually kind of disappointed by the shows, compared to what I've seen in prior cruises. Not bad by any means, but not quite up to expectations.
- We did Aquaventure in Nassau. Used the Country Inn and Suites option to save money, though it's a rather good hike without clear instructions from there. Aquaventure was fine (in particular, the rapids ride was great), though the pavement was way too hot, with no effort to cool it with sprayers. We would wear water shoes around and take them on rides if we did it over. Overall, we preferred Blizzard Beach, which was also much cheaper. Glad we did this once, but I don't think we'll do it again if we're in Nassau.
- Castaway Cay is nice, and set up well, but we don't get everyone's fascination with it. It's a nice beach. We were heading back to the ship around 2:30, and from the flow of people, so was almost everyone else. We had a good time, but it certainly wasn't the highlight of the trip. I'd just as soon have a sea day as a second day at Castaway Cay, for instance.
Other random stuff:
- We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites with the parking package, but the shuttle to the port was booked up before we could get our names on the list (I had tried calling earlier, and no one answered - when I called in the afternoon the day before, it was too late). We could only be put on a shuttle 1.5 hours after our port arrival time. They ended up (at their suggestion - I didn't even ask or complain) reducing our room cost, though it meant we had to take a taxi, costing the same amount. So, some frustration about not getting the shuttle, but super-happy with their staff for helping.
- My daughter dropped a glass in the bathroom and cut her hand on the broken glass. The bleeding wouldn't stop with just our own bandages so we had to see the nurse (thankfully no stitches needed). The nurse and whoever cleaned the glass from the bathroom while we were gone were all very competent, and Disney was nice about it - no extra charges or anything (it was her fault she dropped the glass, not theirs!). We had to do the security interview and my daughter couldn't swim at Castaway Cay, but Disney was super nice, and even followed up with phone calls to check on her later. Guest services sent us a couple of journals and pens to the room just as a "gift", but I'm guessing it was them trying to make her feel better due to the accident. In any case - a very nice touch on their part.
- My sister had a cruise (Alaska cruise on Princess) at about the same time as our cruise. I had been wondering whether the Disney cruises were really that significantly different, but after hearing her stories, I am really glad we went with Disney on this and on our other cruises, despite the cost.
I believe they are just on the 7 + night cruises because of the dining rotation repeating several times on those longer cruises.
