tweis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 21, 2012
- Messages
- 2,979
I am a little late with this as our cruise was June 10-15th but I have finally gotten to it. We did the 5 night double dip on the Dream.
1. Embarktion- Could not have been any smoother. We had the 11:30-12:00 check in time. Our Radisson shuttle got us there around 11:40. We made our way through security and checked in and was given boarding number 11. Before we could get out of line number 11 was called. We were making our way through the mouse ears by 11:55.
2. Stateroom-We had a deluxe family oceanview room category 8d(i think) room 6676. There are four of us and we had plenty of room. We loved the bed! It is so comfy. Jocy was our room steward and he was very sweet and helpful. Although sometimes he gave us 3 towels instead of 4? So I started piling all the dirty ones in the bathroom floor when we were leaving for the day to insure that we got 4 clean ones and this helped. Plenty of closet space and space under the bed for storing suit cases. If you have small children I would recommend bringing hangers for them as their are only large ones in the closet. Great hair products in the stateroom also.
3. Food- Everyone has different opinions when it comes to food. Overall I liked the food very well. However, some dishes were much better than others. I really enjoyed the menu in the RP. Highly recommend the french onion soup, filet with lobster medallions, creme brulee, grand marnier souflee, duck breast appetizer. In EG the prime rib was quite tasty as well as the asparagus soup. I didn't really care for AP. Although I loved the crunchy walnut cake! However, my husband loved the pasta pursettes and some kind of beef dish. I was so looking forward to the Pirate night menu but I was probably disappointed the most with it. Now I really enjoyed the See ya real soon menu and I was not aware of it until the cruise. LOVED the leek and potato soup! It was so good. As was the filet and the chocolate decadence desert! For breakfast most mornings we found that we enjoyed the buffet in EG. It was not overly crowded and had lots of choices. You can also get made to order omlettes. We tried Cabanas once for breakfast but just found it too crowded and the CMs tell you not to line up at the end of the buffet but people do and when you try to get something they think your cutting in line. It was easier with kids in EG. Loved the food at Cookies Too. We did not get to try RP for lunch as we had 2 days at CC, Cabanas once for lunch which surprisingly was much easier and better than breakfast. We did pizza and wraps on deck 11 one day for lunch and my kids really enjoyed that.
4. Aquaduck & Pools- The aquaduck is alot of fun for adults and kids both IMO. We rode it once the first day and waited probably 30 minutes. Our day at Nassau we rode it several times with hardly a wait at all. The pools are of course very crowded. My children were able to get in any time but they were never able to actually swim. My husband and I didn't make it in just because they were crowded. My kids did enjoy the Mickey slide and rode it several times. My DH and I did not make it to the adults only pool
5. Castaway Cay- Is beautiful! The two days we were there we had no problems getting loungers with umbrellas. We did not stop at the first family but continued on the the second one in front of Pelican Plunge. We loved the clear water and there are no waves! We dropped the kids off at Scuttles Cove and checked out Serenity Bay. Beautiful! My DH and I got to lounge and swim a little before we got a message on our wave phone. Kids did not like Scuttle's Cove. They said it was more for little kids. They are 9 & 10. We did not do any kind of shore excursion and were glad. We had so much fun snorkeling and swimming and going down Pelican Plunge!
6. Nassau- Even my TA had said stay on the Ship! But we wanted to get our passports stamped. We did stay on the ship until maybe 2:00. Then we wandered off and asked about getting our stamp. Got it no problem. We decided to go check out the straw market as my DH lost his sunglasses on Pelican Plunge. We found several souvenirs for the kids and us for pretty good prices. Some of the people can be pushy but a firm no and we didn't have any problems. It was very hot on the island so we only stayed a couple of hours although the ship was staying til 1:00 a.m.!
7. Shows- I had heard that "Believe" was the best show and "Villians Tonight" the worst. I disagree. We loved "Villians Tonight"! It kept my boys and us highly entertained. We left the Golden Mickeys earlier as it just wasn't holding their attention. Believe was ok and we stayed for all of it. They were showing Avengers one night instead of a show but my kids had already seen it so we passed on it. One night was a comedy show with Alfred and Seymore. My kids loved it and laughed the whole way through. This would not work for younger children as they probably wouldn't "get" most of it. But they were hilarious!
8. Kids Clubs-We registered online and immediately went to get bracelets upon boarding. My kids loved it while they were there but they just didn't go very often as we were busy doing other things. We usually had about an hour after dinner before our show started so they went then a couple of times.
9. Pirate Night- I was very curious about this before my cruise so maybe I can help someone out with this. We bought eye patches and earrings, tattos, bandanas, and pirate tshirts before our cruise. Your room steward will give you a bandana but my kids preferred the ones we brought. They are also kind of small. You can wear your outfit to dinner. Most of the dining room WAS dressed up on our Pirate Night. After our early seating there was a show up on deck with Capt. Mickey and lots of other characters that last maybe 30 minutes. After that we had the comedy show. Once that was over we made our way to deck 11, or you can go to 12, to get a seat for the fireworks show. I think they started at 10:30 and lasted maybe 5 or 10 mins. After that is the other show with Capt. Jack Sparrow which didn't last maybe 20 mins. There is a dance party after this but we decided to try the buffet that was set up in Cabanas. Lots of yummy choices.
10. See Ya Real Soon- This is on the last night and found out it was a chance to get pics with characters. Early on my kids said they weren't interested in characters. However, on this night they changed their mind! The characters are out for 20 mins. In this time you can try to get pics with characters that you may have missed. Luckily we were first in line for Mickey and were able to get pics with 5 characters. At the end of 20 mins they dance a little and say goodbye. Doesn't last very long at all but is a good chance for pics.
11. Debarktion- Couldn't have been easier. We had 6:45 breakfast in AP. We put our luggage out the night before. Before we were finished with breakfast customs had cleared the ship. After breakfast we made our way off the ship and through customs and collected our luggage. Their was a shuttle from the Radisson waiting. We were on our way back to Georgia by 8:00.
Overall we loved our trip and would definitely do it again! If you have any questions feel free to ask.
1. Embarktion- Could not have been any smoother. We had the 11:30-12:00 check in time. Our Radisson shuttle got us there around 11:40. We made our way through security and checked in and was given boarding number 11. Before we could get out of line number 11 was called. We were making our way through the mouse ears by 11:55.
2. Stateroom-We had a deluxe family oceanview room category 8d(i think) room 6676. There are four of us and we had plenty of room. We loved the bed! It is so comfy. Jocy was our room steward and he was very sweet and helpful. Although sometimes he gave us 3 towels instead of 4? So I started piling all the dirty ones in the bathroom floor when we were leaving for the day to insure that we got 4 clean ones and this helped. Plenty of closet space and space under the bed for storing suit cases. If you have small children I would recommend bringing hangers for them as their are only large ones in the closet. Great hair products in the stateroom also.
3. Food- Everyone has different opinions when it comes to food. Overall I liked the food very well. However, some dishes were much better than others. I really enjoyed the menu in the RP. Highly recommend the french onion soup, filet with lobster medallions, creme brulee, grand marnier souflee, duck breast appetizer. In EG the prime rib was quite tasty as well as the asparagus soup. I didn't really care for AP. Although I loved the crunchy walnut cake! However, my husband loved the pasta pursettes and some kind of beef dish. I was so looking forward to the Pirate night menu but I was probably disappointed the most with it. Now I really enjoyed the See ya real soon menu and I was not aware of it until the cruise. LOVED the leek and potato soup! It was so good. As was the filet and the chocolate decadence desert! For breakfast most mornings we found that we enjoyed the buffet in EG. It was not overly crowded and had lots of choices. You can also get made to order omlettes. We tried Cabanas once for breakfast but just found it too crowded and the CMs tell you not to line up at the end of the buffet but people do and when you try to get something they think your cutting in line. It was easier with kids in EG. Loved the food at Cookies Too. We did not get to try RP for lunch as we had 2 days at CC, Cabanas once for lunch which surprisingly was much easier and better than breakfast. We did pizza and wraps on deck 11 one day for lunch and my kids really enjoyed that.
4. Aquaduck & Pools- The aquaduck is alot of fun for adults and kids both IMO. We rode it once the first day and waited probably 30 minutes. Our day at Nassau we rode it several times with hardly a wait at all. The pools are of course very crowded. My children were able to get in any time but they were never able to actually swim. My husband and I didn't make it in just because they were crowded. My kids did enjoy the Mickey slide and rode it several times. My DH and I did not make it to the adults only pool
5. Castaway Cay- Is beautiful! The two days we were there we had no problems getting loungers with umbrellas. We did not stop at the first family but continued on the the second one in front of Pelican Plunge. We loved the clear water and there are no waves! We dropped the kids off at Scuttles Cove and checked out Serenity Bay. Beautiful! My DH and I got to lounge and swim a little before we got a message on our wave phone. Kids did not like Scuttle's Cove. They said it was more for little kids. They are 9 & 10. We did not do any kind of shore excursion and were glad. We had so much fun snorkeling and swimming and going down Pelican Plunge!
6. Nassau- Even my TA had said stay on the Ship! But we wanted to get our passports stamped. We did stay on the ship until maybe 2:00. Then we wandered off and asked about getting our stamp. Got it no problem. We decided to go check out the straw market as my DH lost his sunglasses on Pelican Plunge. We found several souvenirs for the kids and us for pretty good prices. Some of the people can be pushy but a firm no and we didn't have any problems. It was very hot on the island so we only stayed a couple of hours although the ship was staying til 1:00 a.m.!
7. Shows- I had heard that "Believe" was the best show and "Villians Tonight" the worst. I disagree. We loved "Villians Tonight"! It kept my boys and us highly entertained. We left the Golden Mickeys earlier as it just wasn't holding their attention. Believe was ok and we stayed for all of it. They were showing Avengers one night instead of a show but my kids had already seen it so we passed on it. One night was a comedy show with Alfred and Seymore. My kids loved it and laughed the whole way through. This would not work for younger children as they probably wouldn't "get" most of it. But they were hilarious!
8. Kids Clubs-We registered online and immediately went to get bracelets upon boarding. My kids loved it while they were there but they just didn't go very often as we were busy doing other things. We usually had about an hour after dinner before our show started so they went then a couple of times.
9. Pirate Night- I was very curious about this before my cruise so maybe I can help someone out with this. We bought eye patches and earrings, tattos, bandanas, and pirate tshirts before our cruise. Your room steward will give you a bandana but my kids preferred the ones we brought. They are also kind of small. You can wear your outfit to dinner. Most of the dining room WAS dressed up on our Pirate Night. After our early seating there was a show up on deck with Capt. Mickey and lots of other characters that last maybe 30 minutes. After that we had the comedy show. Once that was over we made our way to deck 11, or you can go to 12, to get a seat for the fireworks show. I think they started at 10:30 and lasted maybe 5 or 10 mins. After that is the other show with Capt. Jack Sparrow which didn't last maybe 20 mins. There is a dance party after this but we decided to try the buffet that was set up in Cabanas. Lots of yummy choices.
10. See Ya Real Soon- This is on the last night and found out it was a chance to get pics with characters. Early on my kids said they weren't interested in characters. However, on this night they changed their mind! The characters are out for 20 mins. In this time you can try to get pics with characters that you may have missed. Luckily we were first in line for Mickey and were able to get pics with 5 characters. At the end of 20 mins they dance a little and say goodbye. Doesn't last very long at all but is a good chance for pics.
11. Debarktion- Couldn't have been easier. We had 6:45 breakfast in AP. We put our luggage out the night before. Before we were finished with breakfast customs had cleared the ship. After breakfast we made our way off the ship and through customs and collected our luggage. Their was a shuttle from the Radisson waiting. We were on our way back to Georgia by 8:00.
Overall we loved our trip and would definitely do it again! If you have any questions feel free to ask.
