OceanLiner

I know that a private sun deck is also included. Does it have any shaded area?

We are booked Concierge on Dream next fall and wondered if the hosts were any help with getting autographs for the little ones or if any of the characters showed up in the lounge. There are three regular dining rooms and four nights, do we get to pick which one we repeat?

 

Donna

Of course you get to choose which dining room to repeat, and its quite simple. Well before the cruise is to begin, the Shore Concierge will begin to contact you as to all the possible preferences and requests that you might have for the ship. They wont necessarily mention the dining rotation, but you easily tell them your request based on the fourth night in a triple dining rotation. The pattern works like this, the dining room that begins your rotation will be your dining room on the fourth night.

Example on four night cruise with MDR rotation: (1)M, (2)D, (3)R, (4)M

Example on four night cruise with DRM rotation: (1)D, (2)R, (3)M, (4)D

Just figure out which dining room that you wish to repeat and begin your rotation with that same dining room.

Also, because of the popularity of Remy/Palos and the use of the buffet, not all diners are at their regular tables. Speak with the concierge staff on board the ship and they can move you around a bit if requested.

Don't tell them when you are REALLY leaving.

The first Disney Cruise, we told my boys about the cruise and the date of the cruise. DISASTER on the night before the flight! They were so excited.

Subsequent Disney Cruises, we told them about the cruise, but we gave a different date. So they thought we were leaving on a Friday but we were actually leaving on Thursday. Everyone slept very well, and they woke up to a bit of unanticipated Disney magic.

So yes, tell them about the cruise, just make sure to give them the wrong date.

The door decorations are really interesting, and it makes me wonder how they got started. It is like the virtual world of a Facebook page brought to a real world application, but I can't press "hide".

Volumes of threads talk about the beauty and design of the Disney ships and then somehow the halls get redecorated like a craft fair.

We tend to use the number plaques to identify our stateroom and the staterooms of our friends/guests. Interestingly, the staff knows us by name, not by door.

For me it's not about the money, it's about drinking the vintages and producers I prefer. Otherwise my bar tab on my recent three day wouldn't have been over $500--we did buy two bottles and some Port from the ship plus paid corkage on two additional bottles. It was no big deal to carry on our wine. We had it in insulated bags made for that purpose. My husband carried one, I carried the other.

 

I don't drink hard alcohol, but if I did, I can't see bringing more than a small flask of great Scotch or something along those lines to have in my room as a nightcap.

Bringing the alcohol on board as a preference makes a great deal of sense. Bringing it as a cost saving measure just doesn't seem to add up.

Could someone explain the math behind this subject, because I have never really understood the financial argument for bringing all of this alcohol on board the ship?

Please start with how many drinks per day and how much you are saving per drink.

I understand the issue of wanting a particular brand and/or vintage, but all of this effort to save a few dollars per day just doesn’t add up for a relaxing vacation.

Think of it like a souvenir. I might not buy a 50 dollar bottle of liquor at home, but in the Caribbean I might be able to get it for 20 bucks, which is a steal.

 

If I'm going to be down there anyway, why not stock the bar with quality liquor and save myself some money in the process?

The souvenir idea is a good one. But it's heavy, delicate to ship, and its only unique property is that it was cheap. I could more easily see souvenir booze that was unique; like the Guava berry stuff that we find in St Marteen.

I think that the best place to buy liquor is on the ship, drink by drink. You don't need to worry about customs, driving, lugging the stuff around, airline restrictions, or any of a multitude of issues.

Please understand that I am not tring to flame anyone about this issue, it's just that we are always amazed at the amount of effort that passengers exert in tring to save a few dollars on a few liters of booze, relative to the over all cost of the cruise.

We would much sooner spend the day enjoying our liquor on the deck of the ship then shleping the liquor back to the deck. This is kind of the same issue as spending the time doing the laundry on the ship vs. sending the laundry out and instead watching the sunset.