Thoughts on the initial 8/9 Dream cruise...

[DIS_MIKE]

Wait, what? Did I miss this? NM-I found it! lol

Not sure if this carried over into quiet cove. You do not see the black stanchions surrounding the pool area.

 

[epcotrulz]

Not sure if this carried over into quiet cove. You do not see the black stanchions surrounding the pool area.

Looks like just social distance markers and adults should behave like adults. Ditto on satellite falls. Three weeks and one day!

 

[mcd2745]

As for personal mugs at the drink stations, you put your mug down on the table and the CM would fill a disposable cup and pour it into your mug.

There were no time limits or barriers around the Quiet Cove pool. I didn't go to Satellite Falls.

 

[squirk]

Yes, it was. I actually had to ask a CM as we were walking past the kiosk on deck 5 about 10pm the second night as, bizarrely, I hadn't seen anyone playing it yet. I think I only saw 2 people the entire cruise playing it.

Well, that’s something, at least. We sailed on a Classic ship for the first time in Feb. ‘20, and while we had a great time, MDA was definitely missed.

 

[Cheburashka]

It depends on why one sails. If it's to relax on the deck and watch the world go by, then it still looks appealing. If you were desperate for your late March 2020 cruise and it was cancelled and it's been 1.5 years since and you're longing even more for a relaxing day at CC, then it still looks appealing. If life has been unusally busy and stressful lately and you're looking for a long stretch of down time, then it still looks appealing. If your kids are grown and will be working while you're sailing and you don't give a fark about the kids clubs, then it still looks appealing.

Different strokes, sure. Obviously it still appeals to some who love DCL and don't need to be too concerned about wasting money. If the cruise fare were low enough (offseason, short cruise to CC & a low category stateroom), I myself would probably be willing to cruise just to get away, but for scheduling reasons (school & custody) we typically have to sail during peak season when even non-concierge fares average $1,000 per night for a party of 2, and for me, that just isn't worth it with all of the cutbacks. We could stay in the lap of luxury at Four Seasons Orlando for that amount of money.

 

[Cheburashka]

It was a very different cruise, I would even say weird in some aspects.

If I separated it into to parts - the on board experience and the experience of the two days at Castaway Cay...I would say the Castaway experience was a significant upgrade, while the on board experience was downgraded. That's the headline IMO.

Since our entire family (myself, wife, 19-yr old son, 16-yr old daughter) is fully vaccinated, the arrival at port and embarkation process, while different, went smoothly.

On board, the lack of activities really stood out. Perhaps that is why there was no paper Navigator, as it would have been mostly blank. The few activities they did have were repeated over and over, presumably to give multiple opportunities for them so that each occurrence wasn't too heavily attended. The movie theater only showed Black Widow and Jungle Cruise, and nothing else (normally, Cruella would probably have been part of the rotation). In the adult lounge for the four nights, they had karaoke twice and Match Your Mate twice. No variety acts. They did the same music trivia (80s, 90s, 2000s,) 3 or 4 times a day in 687.

Since we were traveling with a 19-yr old, it would have been nice to know beforehand that the 1820 Society was canceled (but of course, it was still advertised on the screens in the elevators). This was a big disappointment. As a result, our son just spent a majority of the cruise in the stateroom. Had we known in advance there would be no 1820 Society, there would have been a good chance we would have canceled and rescheduled.

Another thing they should have notified guests prior to sailing was that guest laundry rooms would be closed. First night, I went to iron a shirt and another gentleman was heading towards me with his shirt and knew where I was heading. He stopped and said "the laundry rooms are closed, I guess there will be a lot of guys in wrinkled shirts at dinner on this cruise". Not a huge deal in and of itself, but goes back to the lack of communication from DCL that we have seen throughout this ordeal, and in particular the last 6 weeks or so where they left guests booked on these Aug Dream sailings twisting in the wind for so long. Once they finally announced they were resuming operations with this sailing, they should have been very transparent and specific about what changes to the on board experience we should expect.

The overall reduced capacity (there's been plenty of numbers tossed around - 25%, 30%, etc) is certainly what made the days at Castaway truly fantastic. There were far fewer loungers/chairs on the beach, and spread out well. Still, there was no problem finding any. There were so few people on the beach, in the water, etc. that you really felt like it was "private island ". This was the first day, early afternoon, with good weather (second day had bad weather) ...


View attachment 597183

On the flip side, the reduced capacity made for some weird aspects. Our room was near the aft elevators. When we got off the forward elevators and had to make the long walk down the hall, very few doors were decorated, and of course, no FEs hanging. You even saw less CMs. Was very strange.

Another strange sight was the atrium completely empty in the evening. The below pic was about 7:30 pm when it is normally buzzing with activity (live music, characters greets, backdrop photos, etc)
View attachment 597185


As expected, the crew were all fantastic. Food was excellent (although, they could have used the time off to refresh the menus). I think the fact that they only had to make dinners for about 30% of the usual number of people allowed them to improve the quality and preparation of the dinners in the MDRs.

Debarkation was okay. Line to get off the ship was still fairly long - and not physically distanced. I guess they didn't care if everyone infected each other on that line and got sick 2-3 days later since we'd be long gone from the ship at that point.


And a PSA if I may,...please make sure you are taking the correct luggage from the terminal. For the second time, we had someone take one of our bags/suitcases. And strangely, neither time was it a black upright suitcase. Fortunately, they got in touch with the people who took it and they were on a DCL bus back to MCO, so they alerted the driver and he left it with the DCL folks at the Magical Express area and we were able to get it when we got to MCO.

Were there many characters around? How was that aspect of it? Obviously, there are no meet & greets, but on the UK vlogs I saw a lot of spontaneous character appearances. Did that happen much on the Dream?

 

[sethschroeder]

As far as the Mickey waffles go, I haven’t heard of a Bisquick shortage….

There is Mickey Waffles on board. Some are losing their **** because it's not exactly the same as the "good" WDW ones.

 

[sethschroeder]

Were there many characters around? How was that aspect of it? Obviously, there are no meet & greets, but on the UK vlogs I saw a lot of spontaneous character appearances. Did that happen much on the Dream?

If you watch the various vlogs lots of different chances to meet characters. Saw a Twitter post where not a single person came up to pirate mickey in over 20 mins besides the poster.

Saw another with Pallo where there was like 3 people in line to meet Ariel in the morning one day.

Saw another with all 3 princesses standing around with no one around on embarkation night during early dinner with really no one around.

Finally saw them on Castaway as well.

Havent been yet but seems like lots of different opportunities.

 

[jrapps]

There is Mickey Waffles on board. Some are losing their **** because it's not exactly the same as the "good" WDW ones.

We bought one of the "official" Mickey waffle makers from the Disney store a few years back...they are basically the exact same as the waffles you get at WDW or DCL, maybe slightly thinner.

Maybe my taste buds can't tell the difference between batters because we used plain ol Bisquick and they tasted exactly the same to us... Well we did add chocolate chips so maybe that helped.

Here's the link if anyone wants. Ever so slightly cheaper than buying a cruise.

https://www.shopdisney.com/mickey-mouse-90th-anniversary-double-flip-waffle-maker-655772017307.html

 

[mcd2745]

Were there many characters around? How was that aspect of it? Obviously, there are no meet & greets, but on the UK vlogs I saw a lot of spontaneous character appearances. Did that happen much on the Dream?

There would be, up in the atrium balconies. Unfortunately, no ship photographers with them, and the CMs who accompanied them were not allowed to take a picture with your phone. So it had to be a distanced selfie - and you couldn't remove your mask the way you could when you were taking other photos with the ship photographers.

One thing that is new, since they no longer use the third party for the photos/Shutters is that they are now doing some "magic shots" like they do in the parks.

I think going forward, there will be more and more characters with ship photographers. They added a Pirate Mickey photo opp with the ship photographer on the 3rd night, which they said wasn't part of the original plan where he was on the "stage" in the atrium and you stood about 8 feet in front of him.

 

[mcd2745]

Another thing I just thought to mention was the elevators. Signs at every elevator stated "One party, or two individuals only per elevator, please".

Wasn't as bad as initially thought it would be when we first saw that at embarkation. This was no doubt due to the capacity. If they still have this rule when they start getting up to 50, 60% or so it will become a problem.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

Having sailed on a completely full sailing (we called and tried to add an extra person to our stateroom and were told the ship was at occupancy) in the past on the Fantasy, this sounds like heaven on earth. The only thing that is strangely vexxing for me is no guest laundry. I love to wash clothes at least once on the cruise while I relax with a glass of wine and cheese plate in the stateroom. If I am wearing a mask inside, why does it matter about close quarters in the laundry rooms?

Weirdly enough, It seems like they have cut everything we normally wouldnt care much about. Hopefully they can get some more live music going soon.

 

[jjsmouse]

Thank you for sharing! It's disappointing to read about the lack of activities. The same things over and over again and lack of variety acts does not create a fun vibe. When I heard that there would be live music on board, we were hopeful, but it sounds like that beyond live music (and of course the wonderful broadway shows, they dropped the ball.

So I presume this means that they didn't do Bingo? Probably too few folks to make it worthwhile and/or to much of group setting. It would seem they could offer multiple games with sign up and then seperation in the room.

 

[KantLose]

So I presume this means that they didn't do Bingo? Probably too few folks to make it worthwhile and/or to much of group setting. It would seem they could offer multiple games with sign up and then seperation in the room.

I saw pictures of Bingo happening on the Dream. The only change mentioned was paper bingo cards.

 

[Ikaikalani]

So I presume this means that they didn't do Bingo? Probably too few folks to make it worthwhile and/or to much of group setting. It would seem they could offer multiple games with sign up and then seperation in the room.

I think Bingo is being offered. I'm pretty sure one of the 'streamer' youtube kids' video showed 'em playing bingo.

 

[Budzooka]

So I presume this means that they didn't do Bingo? Probably too few folks to make it worthwhile and/or to much of group setting. It would seem they could offer multiple games with sign up and then seperation in the room.

Of course Bingo will be offered….you have to pay to play!

 

[BlueRibbon]

There is Mickey Waffles on board. Some are losing their **** because it's not exactly the same as the "good" WDW ones.

For me, I like eating breakfast at Cabanas and don't want to have to go to a MDR to order them. But I think what's really getting people is the lack of a reasonable explanation for their absence. It can't be because of "social distancing," if that's the case, then you'd better take eggs off the menu too. It also can't be the lack of Golden Malted Waffle Mix. This whole waffle thing is just a microcosm of the issues Disney brings upon itself when they don't provide rational explanations for their decisions/actions.

 

[CamColt]

I haven't read all the replies yet (I will) but I just wanted to add some quick thoughts to this.

First, let me start with we had an amazing time! LOVED it! I don't want to just bring up the negatives so it sounds like I was miserable. I was not. I could list a ton of positives. In fact sitting at Evolution Thursday night I asked DH, is it to late to book tomorrows cruise?

The laundry room issue was probably our biggest complaint. We had 4 days worth of clothes to wash Tuesday and rewear the next 4 days. That added some stress. Knowing we could not do that in advance would have been helpful. The real killer came after the fact when I read in another group deck 5's laundry room WAS open. (I cannot say for sure this is true but someone was saying it was) A stateroom host near 1 laundry room and someone at Guest Services both told us no they were all closed. Wish I knew to at least check deck 5.

Dining room food, I agree was very good however Cabanas was limited, the scrambled eggs were a runny mess, and the burger at Cookies was like a hockey puck. Also missed the sticky buns at Palo. Other than those issues, food was great(and the scale proves it). Oh but the new water bottles are absolutely horrible! Who ever thought water could taste so bad???

We also felt the adult entertainment was lacking. Funny thing was we went to trivia at 7:45 Thursday. By 8:10 they were on question #13 (no answers yet) and we had to leave for dinner. The girl running it was very entertaining, chit chatting and stuff. I think DCL missed an opportunity there. If she was going to make it into sort of an improv show with trivia, that lasted that long, they could have done that as an evening "show" in Evolution since they didn't have any actual variety acts. Maybe replace 1 Karaoke night with that. The first night Karaoke was very slow.

I felt like there were a few other missteps but being the first one back I expected that and I was ok with it. There were SO many other positives that made these little things just minor annoyances in the grand scheme of things. Big Picture...we went on a cruise!

 

[HiStitch626]

So I presume this means that they didn't do Bingo? Probably too few folks to make it worthwhile and/or to much of group setting. It would seem they could offer multiple games with sign up and then seperation in the room.

From Scott's DCL Blog

 

[jrapps]

I haven't read all the replies yet (I will) but I just wanted to add some quick thoughts to this.

First, let me start with we had an amazing time! LOVED it! I don't want to just bring up the negatives so it sounds like I was miserable. I was not. I could list a ton of positives. In fact sitting at Evolution Thursday night I asked DH, is it to late to book tomorrows cruise?

The laundry room issue was probably our biggest complaint. We had 4 days worth of clothes to wash Tuesday and rewear the next 4 days. That added some stress. Knowing we could not do that in advance would have been helpful. The real killer came after the fact when I read in another group deck 5's laundry room WAS open. (I cannot say for sure this is true but someone was saying it was) A stateroom host near 1 laundry room and someone at Guest Services both told us no they were all closed. Wish I knew to at least check deck 5.

Dining room food, I agree was very good however Cabanas was limited, the scrambled eggs were a runny mess, and the burger at Cookies was like a hockey puck. Also missed the sticky buns at Palo. Other than those issues, food was great(and the scale proves it). Oh but the new water bottles are absolutely horrible! Who ever thought water could taste so bad???

We also felt the adult entertainment was lacking. Funny thing was we went to trivia at 7:45 Thursday. By 8:10 they were on question #13 (no answers yet) and we had to leave for dinner. The girl running it was very entertaining, chit chatting and stuff. I think DCL missed an opportunity there. If she was going to make it into sort of an improv show with trivia, that lasted that long, they could have done that as an evening "show" in Evolution since they didn't have any actual variety acts. Maybe replace 1 Karaoke night with that. The first night Karaoke was very slow.

I felt like there were a few other missteps but being the first one back I expected that and I was ok with it. There were SO many other positives that made these little things just minor annoyances in the grand scheme of things. Big Picture...we went on a cruise!

Glad you had a great time!