Stop all of the worrying!!

[nick.turpchinoff]

I agree 100% with MomOfBrooke76!
You have NOTHING to worry about!

We were on the same cruise, and one of the groups that linked ressies with her. I highly recommend doing this! We all had a lot in common with one another, the DIS was the obvious. I have had no complaints about the March 10-13 cruise. I will have my own cruise report soon!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

The walk / kayak was fun. We met at 930 by Marges Barges just off the ship. We took 2 trams to serenity bay. My wife, I love her sense of humor says, (think jeff goldblum in jurassic park), "there IS going to be some WALKING on this WALKING tour, right?" So we get life vests and start a 45 min walking tour with frequent stops where the tour guide pointed out horticultural points of interest and historical nuggets about the island and regions history. Not strenuous at all. We then reached the kayaks and were in them about an hour. We followed the coast, went through mangroves, then the challenging part was coming back against the wind and current out to a buoy then back to the beach where we started. It was a good upper body workout and a lot of fun - first time in a kayak actually. We then walked back to where the serenity bay bikes are which was a quicker walk (20 min) without the stops.

Thanks. It sounds like fun! -- Suzanne

 

[NAG]

Great title on this post!

We also were on this sailing and it was better than expected. We were in concierge on deck 12. We had no problem with lines in Cabanas. We were always greeted there and seated immediately with soda stations everywhere. There are a lot of areas on the boat for small groups to get together and socialize. Did not notice any crowding in any of the adult areas (pools or bars). Arrived at the Walt Disney Theater within 10 minutes of the start of the shows and had no trouble finding a seat. We didn't have to wear life jackets to the safety drill (although I think the member of the crew that led our group was actually "Hades" in Villians Tonight - not a good feeling there). Service in the dining halls was a little slow, but not annoying.

The ship was moving...a lot (especially the 1st day). I would have expected the larger ship to ride smoother than, say, the Magic. I like to sleep on my side, and couldn't because my body would pivot back and forth with the ship. Granted, you could hear the wind whistling outside.

Memorize the layout of the ship. Especially the floors that carry you from the front the back. After the show, have an alternative way back to your cabin. The elevators outside the show will have lines, and walking from deck 3 to deck 12 is not a good option (did it once...and only once).

We did get a Cabana on CC (#4). They are very close together. But you really cant tell. Having a large section of the beach just for the cabanas was great! You still have to walk to the bathroom or Cookies 2. So, the higher the #Cabana, the farther away you are. It was a close call up front, but we would say get one if you can.

 

[kasha321]

Thanks for the positive review. Was getting worried reading some of the other posts so I am glad I came across yours. My family will be on the Dream in 281 days!!! We are so excited and your post just made it better!!

 

[FJS961]

Great title on this post!

We also were on this sailing and it was better than expected. We were in concierge on deck 12. We had no problem with lines in Cabanas. We were always greeted there and seated immediately with soda stations everywhere. There are a lot of areas on the boat for small groups to get together and socialize. Did not notice any crowding in any of the adult areas (pools or bars). Arrived at the Walt Disney Theater within 10 minutes of the start of the shows and had no trouble finding a seat. We didn't have to wear life jackets to the safety drill (although I think the member of the crew that led our group was actually "Hades" in Villians Tonight - not a good feeling there). Service in the dining halls was a little slow, but not annoying.

The ship was moving...a lot (especially the 1st day). I would have expected the larger ship to ride smoother than, say, the Magic. I like to sleep on my side, and couldn't because my body would pivot back and forth with the ship. Granted, you could hear the wind whistling outside.

Memorize the layout of the ship. Especially the floors that carry you from the front the back. After the show, have an alternative way back to your cabin. The elevators outside the show will have lines, and walking from deck 3 to deck 12 is not a good option (did it once...and only once).

We did get a Cabana on CC (#4). They are very close together. But you really cant tell. Having a large section of the beach just for the cabanas was great! You still have to walk to the bathroom or Cookies 2. So, the higher the #Cabana, the farther away you are. It was a close call up front, but we would say get one if you can.

Our lifeboat station leader "B" was Hades and the Genie in 'Believe'

I got a lot of exercise on those stairs, 3 to 12 was a challenge. I missed only going up to 8 on the Wonder

I'm glad I'm not the only one who perceived a lot of motion that first night - more than I've felt before.

 

[mom2brooke76]

Our lifeboat station leader "B" was Hades and the Genie in 'Believe'

I got a lot of exercise on those stairs, 3 to 12 was a challenge. I missed only going up to 8 on the Wonder

I'm glad I'm not the only one who perceived a lot of motion that first night - more than I've felt before.

When we did 2 to 13 on the stairs, that was a killer! And to make it worse, we were in a hurry to get to the fireworks right after dinner

I also agree about the motion on the first night. I've never had it that bad in any of my cruises. Jason actually worried that he might get sick. After dinner it made taking the stairs a challenge

 

[kato0627]

Dont laugh. Are there maps on board??? Would love to get a copy of one prior to sailing in May. It would be great to be familiar with the ship prior to getting on board. We are on deck 10.

 

[NancyIL]

We just sailed on the 3/10-3/13 Dream. It was me, dd 6, and dd's godfather. It was my 4th Disney cruise and their 3rd. After reading all of this crazy negative stuff about the Dream I was honestly worried and NONE of my concerns were warranted, thank goodness! We were on a sold out cruise. We arrived via towncar at the port at 10 and had to wait behind about 20 people before they started letting people inside. That took no more than 15 minutes. No line at security and we were the next in line at the CC check in line. Got boarding group 3. The funny thing is that our tablemates were the first people to check in other than the b2b's and they got boarding group 5, so it seems like the numbers may be random now. Whole process took about 20 minutes. The only long line was for kid's club registration.

It could be that some of the early boarding numbers are going to those who check-in at the airport. We were on the 2nd DCL bus from MCO, and we were given boarding group 2 when we checked in at 9:30 a.m.

 

[NJBILL]

how long were the wait times? How did they handle single vs double riders?
Thanks.

 

[mom2brooke76]

how long were the wait times? How did they handle single vs double riders?
Thanks.

The sign said 40 minutes, but it didn't seem quite that long. They only had one line that I saw for both single and double riders.

 

[SingleSailorMinnie]

We were on this same cruise and experienced no problems whatsoever. Except those of unfamiliarity with the ship. I spent time online beforehand trying to orient myself to the layout but that only goes so far! I guess anothe cruise is in order to get us up to where we know this ship as well as the others after 9 cruises! And yes, CC was not crowded at all. The only 'crowds' were expected and very manageable. We had a great time and just wished we were there longer!

 

[dsneygirl]

We were on this same cruise and experienced no problems whatsoever. Except those of unfamiliarity with the ship. I spent time online beforehand trying to orient myself to the layout but that only goes so far! I guess anothe cruise is in order to get us up to where we know this ship as well as the others after 9 cruises! And yes, CC was not crowded at all. The only 'crowds' were expected and very manageable. We had a great time and just wished we were there longer!

Totally agree. We were on the 2/27 sailing and it was sold out. But "crowds" were very manageable. DH and I commented on how it never seemed crowded and somehow those 3000 passengers got all spread out.

 

[kelly_green_eyes_23]

They told us EG, but of course we were one of the first on board, so that's all that was available. EG opens at 11:45, and Cabanas at 12 (at least those were the times on our cruise). In the future, I'd probably just ask if I could wait a few minutes and go to Cabanas.

Couldn't you, if told to go to Enchanted Garden or one of the others, and if you asked if you could wait for Cabanas to open, and was told no or encouraged to go to Enchanted Garden, just forgo going to EG and head up to Cabanas, find a seat and wait for it to open?

 

[WaDiWo]

Great thread ... we were on this sailing too, 3/10. agree with mom2brooke and the others, need to orient yourself first, then getting around the "crowds" (not as much as I expected) is not a problem.

actually, the only crowd was maybe at Shutters on the last night, everyone trying to buy their pictures. also there was always a crowd gathered in front of the restaurants at dinner time (especially in that hall way in front of animator's palate). but really, think about it, you already have a table reserved. no need to rush.

hope to see you on the next one!

 

[firemedic4]

Also on this cruise and had an amazing time. The food was great except for the shrimp and lobster cheesecake.

 

[mickeyluv]

Another Dis'er that was on the 3/10 cruise! I have a little bit of a different take on the crowds. This was our 4th Disney cruise so maybe not as many as some of you but I personally thought that embarkation and disembarkation was a nightmare...especially disembarkation! I'm not trying to be negative here because we had a great time but really? Maybe it's because the 3 night cruise is so short and everybody wants to board early and nobody really wants to get off but come on. We got boarding group #4 and by the time they started boarding group#2 you could not tell at all where the boarding line started at the Mickey portal ears. We sat down to wait on the couches near the bathrooms and started making our way toward the portal ears when they called for group#3 because our group # would be called next. Some lady boarding with group #3 made a very ugly comment to me as to why we were standing in the way and I was making conversation with a family right beind me and they were boarding group# 28 . Now to disembarking...maybe it was because it was daylight savings weekend but we called for a 6:30 wakeup call and Disney called our stateroom at 7:30 so maybe this happened to a lot of families. We missed our breakfast and went straight down to the atrium to get off but what we found was a huge, huge line! We waited for almost an hour!!! I had to keep calling the lady with the transporation company who was picking us up so that they wouldn't leave. I think DCL really needs to get a better handle on embarking and disembarking personally. We are going on a B2B on April 10th and 14th with our friends from the UK so I will report back after that. Hopefully it will be a better experience. We did have a great time although we never got to ride the Aquaduck. It was a little too cold for us for this time of year. Won't be cruising again in March I don't think. Just my two cents!!

 

[DMMarla07860]

Couldn't you, if told to go to Enchanted Garden or one of the others, and if you asked if you could wait for Cabanas to open, and was told no or encouraged to go to Enchanted Garden, just forgo going to EG and head up to Cabanas, find a seat and wait for it to open?

well I wasn't on this cruise, but I did a back-2-back on the Dream in February, and was one of the first ones on, can't remember if we were told to go to Enchanted Garden or not since I was more happy to see a old friend from the ship and was just in a state of mind, but we headed up to Cabanas for lunch without any problem

 

[mom2brooke76]

Another Dis'er that was on the 3/10 cruise! I have a little bit of a different take on the crowds. This was our 4th Disney cruise so maybe not as many as some of you but I personally thought that embarkation and disembarkation was a nightmare...especially disembarkation! I'm not trying to be negative here because we had a great time but really? Maybe it's because the 3 night cruise is so short and everybody wants to board early and nobody really wants to get off but come on. We got boarding group #4 and by the time they started boarding group#2 you could not tell at all where the boarding line started at the Mickey portal ears. We sat down to wait on the couches near the bathrooms and started making our way toward the portal ears when they called for group#3 because our group # would be called next. Some lady boarding with group #3 made a very ugly comment to me as to why we were standing in the way and I was making conversation with a family right beind me and they were boarding group# 28 . Now to disembarking...maybe it was because it was daylight savings weekend but we called for a 6:30 wakeup call and Disney called our stateroom at 7:30 so maybe this happened to a lot of families. We missed our breakfast and went straight down to the atrium to get off but what we found was a huge, huge line! We waited for almost an hour!!! I had to keep calling the lady with the transporation company who was picking us up so that they wouldn't leave. I think DCL really needs to get a better handle on embarking and disembarking personally. We are going on a B2B on April 10th and 14th with our friends from the UK so I will report back after that. Hopefully it will be a better experience. We did have a great time although we never got to ride the Aquaduck. It was a little too cold for us for this time of year. Won't be cruising again in March I don't think. Just my two cents!!

Wow! I'm sorry you had such a bad experience Other than the midship elevators (we just used the forward ones), the only crowd we encountered was during embarkation. You're right about people gathering that are in the later numbers. I just politely made my way though the crowd without issue. Nobody was stopping me from boarding when they called for #3, bad attitudes or not!

As far as disembarkation, our experience was the total opposite, thank goodness, and this is one of the areas that I was most concerned about. In fact, it was faster than it had been on our 3 other DCL cruises. We had 8am breakfast, had eaten by 8:45, and it literally took less than 10 minutes to get through customs. I'm so sorry about your wake up call! Fortunately, our alarm clock messed up the day before and I had asked our stateroom host to fix it and he asked if I wanted him to set the alarm and I said yes. This may have been our saving grace!

 

[NancyIL]

I agree about the mess in the terminal for embarkation. However, the morning the cruise ended, I set my travel alarm for 5:30, was in Cabanas for breakfast about 6:45, and walked off the ship at 7:30. I was more interested in getting off the ship and heading to WDW than hanging around.

 

[We Love the Mouse!]

I agree about the mess in the terminal for embarkation. However, the morning the cruise ended, I set my travel alarm for 5:30, was in Cabanas for breakfast about 6:45, and walked off the ship at 7:30. I was more interested in getting off the ship and heading to WDW than hanging around.

Did they have limited options in Cabanas on the last morning? What types of things were available?