Disney Dream Review - Feb 5 2016 Sailing

Wanted to post a summary review of our first Disney Cruise. Our prior cruises have been primarily with Celebrity, so will try to provide some comparisons. This cruise was just my husband and me, so I don't have any comments on the kids programs. This is a short cruise, so really couldn't take advantage of all the facilities.

Ship and facilities- The Dream is a beautiful elegant ship, very nice common areas and the disney ships may be the nicest to look at from the shore. I would rate the ship as on par with Celebrity's Solstice class ships. The different dining rooms add interest. I liked the gym, it was always lightly populated, much less crowded than other mainstream lines. Also appreciated the free yoga class. I also liked that the ship has a full wrap around walking deck, which many newer ships seem to be doing away with. This was also almost empty each time we walked. We didn't use the spa, so cannot comment. The theaters were nice, saw Star Wars. The adult pool and sun deck were very nice and tranquil. They played the Super Bowl on the outside movie screen, provided very comfy blankets(wished they sold them in the store, I would have bought one!), had super bowl trivia and gave out super bowl prizes, key chains and such. It was fun, but no commercials. The adult bar area was also nice to visit, the brew pub was our favorite. The shows were entertaining, though of course Disney themed, I think they were as good as Celebrity, but my husband took them down a notch for not having a live band (didn't bother me). Castaway Cay day was extremely windy in the morning (up to 50 mph), they didn't let us off till the afternoon and didn't let anyone in the ocean when we were allowed off. It was pretty cold, we walked to the adult beach and took the shuttle back. We were bummed that we couldn't do the 5k. It is a very nice beach and would imagine with good weather we would have really enjoyed it. Due to the bad weather they added a daytime show, which allowed people to watch the super bowl in the evening without missing a show, nice touch!

Cabin - We had a balcony guarantee. I really liked the stateroom, very roomy, tasteful decoration, the split baths are convenient and liked the curtain separating the sitting and sleeping areas. I would rate the stateroom as slightly nicer than a comparable veranda on Celebrity.

Food - The food was ok, but frankly a little disappointing. The buffet was more or less comparable to others, the crab and shrimp are a plus, though hard to eat the crab! I found Disney particularly miserly with fresh fruit. Not only was the selection meager, but you couldn't serve yourself anything but whole fruit. What's with that? You'd think for a kid centric line they would have a fairly good fruit selection, but no. Even the one breakfast we had in the dining room had no fruit plate, had to order the yogurt and fruit plate, hold the yogurt. We had one lunch in the dining room that was very nice. The dinners were hit and miss, one great (Enchanted garden), also liked the tuna/avocado tower appetizer there, one ok (Royal palace - filet), and one inedible (animator's palate tuna entree). Since it was only three nights we didn't eat in the specialty restaurants. We ate one lunch at the grill, my husband says the burgers are better on celebrity. I would rate the food better on Celebrity overall.

Service - Service was very good all around, but we've had good service on other lines too, so I wouldn't say one was better than another.

Embarkation/Disembarkation - Both were painless and went smoothly. I think we entered the terminal at 11 and walked onto the ship at 11:45. Getting to the parking garage almost took as long, there were three checkpoints and then the luggage drop off before we could park the car, but the garage was a very short walk away. Just a note if you are staying the night before at an area hotel, look into getting a voucher for 40% off parking. Check out the port website for participating hotels. We stayed at the Courtyard Cocoa Beach, they participated in the program. Disembarkation was the best I've ever experienced. We ate in the buffet (we missed our timeslot in the dining room), then basically walked off the ship, maybe a three minute line, picked up our luggage and waited in about a ten minute customs line.

Value - I don't think we will likely sail Disney again, but I'm glad we tried it. We are Disney fans and spent a week at WDW after the cruise. Even so I feel the value isn't there unless you have kids that are participating in the kids programs. I imagine these contribute significantly to the higher cost of disney cruises and may well be worth it. But for childless couples there are better values out there.

Do they dock at Castaway Cay or tender? I hate tendering.

Docked.....(thank goodness)

I hate tendering too...

Thanks!

Thanks for the report.

Thank you for the review.

Keith

Do they dock at Castaway Cay or tender? I hate tendering.

The beauty of Castaway Cay is that when they bought the island and developed it, they cleared the channel so that the ship could dock.

What do you mean by split bath?

What do you mean by split bath?

Most of the staterooms have what's called a split bath, two separate facilities, one with a toilet and a sink and the other with a bathtub and/or shower and a sink. It's convenient, since it allows two people to get ready without having to wait for each other.