jamesr3939

We just returned and had #12211 never heard a thing. You will love the Spa cabins and the use of the spa. We spent a lot of time in the thermal suite and steam rooms. DW used the showers in the spa locker room rather than the cabin. Only down side to our location was a few times we had people directly above us on the deck and any amount of talking was pretty loud on our balcony. If it were me I would move forward at least two cabins then they couldn't hang out at the open railing. They really can't see much on your balcony except for maybe your toes up on the balcony as the hull angles back enough they can't look right down on you.

We are doing a family cruise for Thanksgiving and I tracked fares for last Thanksgiving just to see how they moved. I started in April 2013 and checked every month. I looked at flying the Thursday before Thanksgiving week and returning the Saturday after. The prices never changed from April on.

I booked ours using FF miles as soon as the schedule open up and am tracking for the kids fares. The fares for Thanksgiving do jump a lot around the week of Thanksgiving. I can get $150 OW fare PHL - FLL on the Thursday week before. But Saturday after Thanksgiving is $350 OW. SWA right now is $279 RT, but they don't have the schedule out for November yet.

As stated, if you see one that you think is a good deal then book it. There are a couple of www sites that track historical data for flights. But it doesn't seem of much use since fares, routes, and airlines have come and gone so much in the last year.

The only cruise ship that is approved for fireworks is the Disney ships. So unless you are close to one of them and/or close to shore you won't see any.

The MDR for dinner had certain items every night. I recall there was a hamburger, steak, and southern fried chicken every night. The chicken was excellent.

Just off the Dream and it was slow and some of my photos I texted never sent. I found Emailing attached photos faster and more reliable. I won't plan on doing any interactive video conference stuff, but you could probably do IM conversations. Emailing papers and stuff shouldn't be an issue.

Just back from the Dream and all the tags were blue with zone # and on the back was a very small space to put your contact information. However, if you use luggage express you don't put the zone tags on your bags. They will give you airline luggage tags along with you boarding pass. If you have luggage tags on your stuff I wouldn't worry about putting anything on the zone tags.

I don't know how they keep you from getting off once the ship is cleared. But the zone number is based on when your luggage is available inside the terminal. So if you have zone #10 it doesn't make much sense to get off when zone #1 is called as you couldn't get your luggage.

We did luggage express and just walked off whenever we wanted, we got zone #10 blue tags but never used them and they hadn't even called them yet.

That being said, the best balcony cabin we had (non-suite of course) was an aft wrap on the Spirit. While the cabin was laid out a little strange the balcony was awesome. We could have done a cocktail party for 40 on it with no problem. Since we took all the kids and grandkids it worked out well for the 11 of us to gather for sail away. The only down side was there was no shade on the balcony or windows so the cabin got really hot and the AC couldn't keep it cool even with all the drapes closed during the day. I would do the cabin again in a minute for an Alaska, but not another warm trip.

We just had 12211 on the Dream and our friends had 2285 (cove). We loved ours and they loved theirs. It's all a matter of choice.

On the Dream we meet in the Song at 6:15 for champagne and appetizers. We then went down to the galley for the remainder of the meal. I believe the menu changes at the whim of the Chef. You can request something different if you don't like what he wants to serve. We had a lady at our table who didn't like fish so she got chicken for that course. I assume she asked at the Steak House when she made the reservations as we didn't see the menu until after dinner when we received one with our names on them. It was a great experience.

You can either book a spa cabin or pay the up charge to use the spa amenities. Since we had booked a spa cabin, we went to the spa reception desk and asked. They also do a tour during embarkation, which tells you how to book/use the spa area.

We missed the tour so went day two and asked. They took us on a personal tour and showed us the "spa" guest only areas. They gave us an elastic white "cloud 9" wrist band that you are to wear when in the restrict spa areas. You check in at reception and they swap out you room key for a white spa key card. You need the white key card to get into the spa only areas. Make sure you don't leave it in the pocket of your robe while roaming and get locked out of the "spa" only area; like I did.

The spa and gym are basically the same location. Anybody can use the gym you just have to walk past the spa reception desk like you know what you are doing and it's on the left. There was a locker room on the right that I think anybody can use.

There was also a small sauna hidden at the end of our hallway that you didn't need a special card key to get to. I found it by accident just opening doors.

With the white key card you can use the large Thalassotherapy pool (to hot for me), two steam rooms (one aroma), thermal relaxation room with tiled loungers, and a small "quite" room with flavored water and hot tea; and great view. I can't say for sure, but I think the only thing you can get to without being a "spa" member is the gym and maybe a locker room and shower off the main hallway.

It's sort of a maze so I can't recall for sure where I had to use my white card.

Just got back from the Dream and with kids at home I told them I would check my Email once a day. I got the cheapest (I think it was $29 for 45 minutes) WiFi on the ship and logged on at least once a day to check Email. I did text/Email a few photos and videos of the trip. The connection is really slow so don't plan on sending any large files. Usually a 10 second video clip sent back took less than 45 seconds. It seemed to be a little faster via Email, but many times it would just lock up and not send at all.

I used my ATT Iphone cel only at St Thomas. Then I used it as a Hot Spot for my Ipad, which made it much faster than the ships WiFi.

Make sure if you use the ships WiFi you go back to the "Fun Hub" page and log out otherwise it keeps your time running. I always made sure the screen said "you are logged out" and it will show how many minutes you have remaining.

Just texted my buddy and he ordered distilled water from room service.

We spent all our deck time on the Serenity deck 15. As the name implies as far as deck areas its pretty quite. I think you can get there on a scooter by taking the forward main elevators to 12 then go into the spa and take the glass elevator at the very front up to Serenity 14 or 15. I can't swear to that so have somebody check it out first. Either side of Deck 14 has plenty of shade and the Serenity bar is there.

Sorry I didn't save mine.

We were on the same cruise.

Embarkation

If you arrive by any type of commercial vehicle other than taxi they make you go to an outlying parking lot and sit in line behind shuttle buses. We hired a driver and town car to get us from Disney World to cruise port and even with only two in the car we had to go to the outlying parking lot, off load, and then walk to the terminal. We sat behind car rental and hotel shuttle buses with 20-30 people pulling trailers full of luggage. It took us a good 30 minutes to get to the off load spot. Cars and taxies can drop right at the terminal. I assume the cruise lines buses drop off at the terminal, also. It was not very efficient.

Check in was fairly fast we were at the counter and walked on the ship in about 20 minutes. We got to check in about 1:00 PM and when we got onboard our cabin was ready. Luggage showed up about two hours later, but was there prior to sailing.

Cabin

We had 12211 a spa balcony and it was great. We used the spa amenities frequently and got our monies worth for the extra cost. Cabin was normal size for what you expect of a balcony. We had plenty of storage space with three closets. One had shelves and the other two hanging. There was also drawer storage in the dressing table and night stands. There were three electrical plugs in the cabin. Two were along the top of the dressing table, one was US and one was European. If you take an adapter you could use both for US plugs. There was one in the bathroom, which took me a day or two to notice. It was above the mirror and had a cover over it. It was marked US for shavers, but could work to charge your cel or tablets. It was a pain swapping out all the E-readers, phones, and tablets to keep with charged using one plug. I would take some type of splitter next time.

The second night out I was a little concerned when the hot water just stopped flowing. I got just enough to wash and rinse my hair then it was a cold shower after. We called and they said our plumber would be notified. Never heard back or saw anybody show up. I assume it wasn’t just us. When we returned from dinner it was working and never an issue after. They could have at least followed up with a call or “sorry”, but there was nothing. Well, except very welcomed hot water.

Deck

We spent most of our time on Serenity deck and were luckily enough to snag one of the two hammocks five of seven days. We never go off the ship so port days were really easy to pick any spot you wanted. Sea days a little harder, but we never went up before 9:00 AM and still had no issues finding a good spot. I did see people showing up around noon and not being able to find a place. Those round (clam shell) looking chairs look comfortable, but aren’t. The way they are designed it forces two people to the center so you’re shoulder to shoulder (not good when you are all hot and grease. We tried them twice for a few minutes and went back to the nice padded loungers or the hammock. Serenity deck is nice and quite as it’s far enough forward you don’t hear all the banter around the pool. There is a small outside bar on Serenity deck. Deck service was spotty, but maybe that’s by design to keep the Serenity deck serene.

Spa

My DW used the shower in the women’s locker room several times rather than the cabin. It was much larger and had body sprays she really liked. We did a couples bamboo massage, which was killer. I had done the hot rock before and it wasn’t “deep” enough. If you are looking for a deep tissue the bamboo gives new meaning to deep. We used the steam and relaxation rooms several times.

Food

I can’t say enough about the food every place we ate was excellent to fantastic. We did the Chef’s Table one night and it rates up there with my best dining experiences. We did Art’s Steak House and it too was fantastic. We didn’t have any issues getting reservations for Chef’s Table as we made them the night we ate at Steak House as they take them for Chef’s Table. We got the Chef’s Table reservations only two days in advance. We did book the Steak House prior to sailing, but from what I saw that’s not necessary. We had your time dining and usually got there around 7:00 PM. We had a great wait staff the first night so we requested their area every night. There was never an issue waiting more than 10 minutes to get in their area. You can line up early and request a certain table setting, but if it’s not available they will give you a pager for when it is. The very first night we requested a table for four at the window. We had to wait about 20 minutes with the pager in the lobby bar (oh darn).

Ate most lunches of hot dogs and/or hamburgers, which were excellent. Our friends did the Mongolian BBQ and loved it. I finally found the burrito bar the last day as it’s small and sort of hidden in between two large buffet lines in the Gathering. Make sure you look for it as the burritos were excellent. I saw a couple of people show up with a bowl and have the server make a burrito bowl.

Cheers

We didn’t do it, but our two friends did. They paid $800 for both of them and bought it the first day on the ship. It was being advertised for sale on day two also (not sure how they prorate). I kept track of our bar tab and we would have probably broke even. Our friends felt it was a pretty good deal and would do it again. They both drink very premium liquors. They did not get close to the 15 limit so don’t know how that works out. They make you wait five minutes between buying drinks. Nobody seemed to care if you were buying for somebody else. I guess because it all counts toward your 15 limit. But we didn’t do it right at the bar in front of staff. Average price of normal drinks were around $9.00 and I was getting premium vodka most of the time. Bud light was $6.61 including tip.

Debarkation

We did the luggage express for the first time and it is well worth the $20 per person. We got the form (I will try to scan an upload) on Monday and it was to be turned in by Friday morning. I turned mine in Wednesday. We got regular zone tags along with everybody else early on Friday. Then later that night we got boarding passes and airlines luggage tags. Good thing I read the fine print, because if you do luggage express you don’t put zone tags on your bags; only the airlines tags. When you fill out the form they ask if you are exempt from airline luggage fees and you have to show the reason and sign specifically.

They started calling self assist around 7:00 AM, by deck. That took about 45 minutes then they started calling by zone. If you do luggage express you can also get off the ship at anytime. They want you out of the cabin by 8:30 AM. We walked out at 8:10 and were boarding the bus to Orlando airport by 8:30 AM. We got to the airport at 10:40 AM. We had TSA pre check and were through security in ten minutes.

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We just got back from the Dream and our friend uses a CPAP. He did not take an extension cord and had to borrow one from the ship. They brought him a bright orange 50 ft cord you could have used to repel off the side of the ship with. There are two plugs on the wall just above the dressing table. One is US and one is UK. If you take an adapter and your item is dual voltage you should be able to take advantage of both. There is a plug in the bathroom above the mirror marked for electric shavers. I thought it was only a two prong, but could be wrong. The one above the dressing table is three prong. If it were me (next time) I wouldn't take a power strip but a three outlet splitter and just plug into the single plug above the dressing table. I have one that's "T" shape with three three prong outlets (center and both ends) I use for Christmas lights I will be taking next time. It was a real pain swapping out the E-readers, phones, and tablets to keep them all charged with only one plug. If you need an extension cord for the CPAP the plug is on the opposite side of the cabin so you need at least an 8 - 10 footer.

We just did Chef's Table on the Dream and it was fantastic. We didn't make reservations until we were aboard. The Dream takes reservations at the Steak House so when we went there on Monday we got four seats for Chef's Table on Wednesday. I think you can get any night for Chef's Table so dress would be same as for MDR. You can see what we were wearing. If you look close on the table you can see little flower pots they used to cook bread rolls in that were topped with roasted garlic. Yes, go hungry.

You made a good call. We just returned from the Dream and did a galley tour. Several places in the galley I noticed signs warning staff that cabins below have complained of noise.

Wow, after all this I am checking into the Betty Ford clinic.

Same question, only need a mini-bus for 16 people. I have gotten quotes around $340 plus tip and fees from the Embassy Suites. I am OK with the price, but want somebody who is reliable.

I bought the tag holders from the CC store and plan to use them on future trips that don't mail me tags. I bought the "wide" plastic holders and gave them to all the kids for our November trip on RCCL. They are very strong and could easily hold a business card for other travel. You do have to cut the printed tags down to get them to fit as folding them makes them to thick to fit.

Yep, just tried it using Chrome and worked perfectly.

Dream does not have dry cleaning only wash and/or press.

Nice review, leaving 1/25 have AT dining but probably won't go until around 7:00 so hope the line won't be an issue. Doing steak house one night and considering Chef's table another.

If you turn off the data roaming then it's not to bad. Last cruise we had a DIL about to birth a new granddaughter so we left one of our phones on and with us the entire time. We got a few calls, text messages, and photos. I recall it cost us $85 extra for the week and I would have to say we used the phone several times. We had AT&T and we made sure to turn it off when we were in port so as not to use the shore provider. It seems text messages are pretty cheap if not free in either outgoing or incoming (can't recall which).