Disney Dream 4 Night Cruise Review - Sept. 7-11, 2014

[mitsguy2001]

My wife and I had a wonderful time on our Disney Dream cruise!! I am 35 and my wife is 36. We spent 4 nights at Disney World followed by a 4 night Disney cruise on the Disney Dream. This review will focus on the 4 night cruise portion of the trip.

 

My wife and I were on the Disney Wonder back in 2006, so this my 2nd Disney cruise. My wife was on 2 previous Disney cruises with a friend (Wonder in 2004 and Magic in 2005) so this was her 4th Disney cruise. My wife and I were also on 4 non-Disney cruises, so this was my 6th cruise overall and her 8th cruise overall. Our most recent non-Disney cruises were on Carnival Dream-class ships. Because those ships are comparable in size to the Disney Dream and are from the same era, this review will contain comparisons between the Disney Dream and the Carnival Dream-class ships.

 

For the land portion of this trip, we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, since we felt that it would be a good preview of the cruise. My wife has been to several different Disney resorts in the past, ranging from Value to Deluxe, and this is now her new favorite resort! We very highly recommend this resort to anybody staying at Disney World.

 

If you are going on a Disney cruise after a stay at Disney World, as we did, there will be a note in your room the last night giving instructions. In our case, it said that they will pick up our luggage from the room at 8 AM, and that we meet at Shutters at 12:15 PM. It is very convenient how Disney picks up your luggage in the morning, and delivers it to your stateroom on the ship, so that you don't have to carry it around yourself. But the catch is that since they pick it up early in the morning, you will want your large bags to be completely packed in the night before you go to bed. Be sure to put your Disney Cruise luggage tags on your luggage, and be sure to remove your Magical Express tag and the tag from your airline. Also, be sure to have a carryon bag that has anything that you will need the next day, since you won't have access to your luggage until it is delivered to your stateroom on the ship during the afternoon. Be sure that your passport (or whatever proof of citizenship you plan to use) and all of your cruise documents are not in your checked bag, since you will need them to board the cruise.

 

To make this review easier to read, I will post each day in a separate post.

[mitsguy2001]

Sunday, September 7, 2014 (Embarkation day at Port Canaveral, including detailed info about the ship)

 

They picked up our luggage at 8 AM today, as they said they would. Check out time at Disney resorts is at 11:00 AM. Since the bus was meeting us at 12:15 PM, we had a little over an hour until we had to check in for our bus. I had a snack at Old Port Royale. I was surprised that the Magic Bands still allowed us to charge to our room even after checkout time. At 12:15, we went to Shutters to meet our bus. I was surprised that we were the only people staying at Caribbean Beach who were taking the bus to the cruise. I would have expected Caribbean Beach to be especially popular with people going on the cruise, since it seems like a nice preview of the Caribbean! The bus first stopped at the Art of Animation resort where a lot of people boarded, and then went to Port Canaveral. It started pouring as soon as we got on the bus, but the weather improved by the time we got to the port!

 

When we arrived at Port Canaveral, we were able to use the Castaway Club checkin line since we were repeat cruisers! But it didn't really matter, since the lines weren't long at all, and it too just a few minutes to check into the cruise! A slight disadvantage to using Disney's transportation to get to the port is that it gets you there fairly late. But that is also an advantage, since your room is ready by the time you board, so it allows you to drop off your carryon luggage. Since it's hard to enjoy the first day when encumbered by carryon luggage, this seems like a reasonable tradeoff.

 

An exciting moment is always when you first walk onto the ship into the lobby! The lobby on this ship was really beatiful, as was the entire ship, and we knew that this was going to be an excellent cruise!! Since our room was ready, we took the elevators up to Deck 7, where our room was. We were staying in Room 7650, a Category 5C Deluxe Stateroom with Verandah, located on Deck 7 Aft, on the starboard side. The elevators were crowded; it seems that every ship, no matter what cruise line, does not have enough elevators to handle peak times. An advantage on the Disney Dream is, from the lobby, you could walk to all 3 elevator lobbies; on the Carnival Dream-class ships, you could only access the forward elevators from the lobby, although Carnival has 10 elevators in the forward elevator lobby compared to the 6 that Disney has.

 

Another exciting moment on a cruise is entering the stateroom for the first time, and putting my wallet and keys and everything else away in the safe!! That really gives me the feeling of being away from everything. Our stateroom was very nice; a slight upgrade over the staterooms that I've seen on other cruise lines. The room had a king-sized bed and a seperate sitting area with a curtain in between. The room seemed to have more storage space than the rooms I've been in on other cruise lines, which of course is a good thing. A feature unique to Disney which is very useful is the split bathroom. This means the room has 2 seperate bathrooms: one with a toilet and sink, the other with a shower and sink. This is very useful, especially when somebody is taking a shower. The bathrooms themselves were a slight upgrade over the bathrooms on other lines since they had a tub, rather than just an extremely small shower stall.

 

In order to save energy, in order to operate the lights in your room, you must put your keycard (or any similarly-sized card) in a slot by the door. When you remove the card, the lights stay on for about a minute or so. Definitely a noble idea; just be sure to remember to take your card from the slot before leaving the room (or else you'd be locked out), and remember that if somebody else is in the room when you remove the card, the lights will go out, so you will want to put another card in the slot before you leave. Another unique feature on Disney was the Wave Phone, which we did not use at all, so I can't comment at all.

 

Our verandah was very nice!! We had one of the rooms that has that skin that causes a slight obstruction on one side of the verandah. However, this obstruction was extremely minimal, and I would have no problem at all booking this room or a similar room again. There was plenty of room for my wife and I to arrange the chairs so that we could both see the ocean, so I really would not count that as an obstruction at all. From reading other posts, it seems that most people agree that the obstruction (I hesitate to even use that word) is insignificant.

 

As I said, we were on Deck 7. Two decks below is Deck 5, and the rooms in this section of the ship on that deck have extended verandahs that extend beyond the verandahs on the upper decks. This did not cause any obstruction at all when sitting; you could see the ocean with no obstruction, and could not even see the Deck 5 verandahs. However if you stood at the edge of the verandah and looked down, you could see the Deck 5 verandahs. Not a problem for me, but if you have a Category 4E extended verandah on Deck 5, you should be aware that it is not exactly private. I have no idea whether or not somebody standing at the edge of a Deck 5 extended verandah looking back could see us or not. Maybe somebody who has been in one of those rooms could comment. It seems unlikely that they would be able to see as high as Deck 7.

 

As I said, the view from Deck 7 was excellent when sitting! What I don't know is, whether or not the view from Deck 6 would have been as good or not. Has anyone who stayed on that deck know? When booking this cruise, we avoided the room directly below us (6646) since it has a "mystery area" below us. From our room, the mystery area appeared to have an oddly shaped verandah, and would be just forward of Room 5650 (which, by the way, appeared to have a huge verandah). Does anybody know what that mystery area forward of Room 5650 is, and whether or not it is anything noisy? I never saw anybody on the mystery area verandah.

 

One negative (if you want to call it that) to this ship is that stateroom selection is tricky. There are very few inside or oceanview staterooms. The vast majority have verandahs, but that increased supply does not reduce their prices, since demand for Disney cruises are so high, and there are only 4 ships. All of the midship verandah rooms are the larger (and more expensive) family sized rooms (Cat. 4x). If you want a regular-sized verandah room (Cat. 5x) you have to go forward or aft. Our room was the forward-most (closest to midship) aft Cat. 5C room. Also, the vast majority of the rooms are connecting rooms. Most of the non-connecting rooms are next to the stairs and elevators. In fact, our room (and its twin on the port side, 7152) are the only Cat. 5C rooms that are not connecting rooms and are not next to an elevator or stairway, making these the most desireable rooms if you just want to book a single room. One slight disadvantage to being near the aft part of the ship is that the midship and aft elevators are very far apart, but the forward and midship elevators are very close together, meaning that you have a longer walk to get to the midship elevators. The aft elevators are hard to get to from the pool area (it requires walking through the buffet, and cannot be accessed at all from Deck 12 above the pool area), but this is a very minor point. A forward 5C room would be more convenient, but again, you're stuck with either a connecting room or a room next to the elevator and stairs.

 

Enough about the room! Although our luggage was ready, we didn't unpack yet, since we wanted to have lunch! We took the aft elevators up to Deck 11 to Cabanas, which is where the lunch buffet is. Cabanas was very nice, and had a pleasant tropical feel. We enjoyed our first lunch!! Just so you know, the port side and starboard side both have the same food, so there is no need to check both of them out. Also, if you need to switch between sides for whatever reason, use the aft end of Cabanas. We walked forward toward the pool deck, and then you have to walk quite a distance forward before you can cross over. Aft of the elevators is where the desserts are, though we never had any desserts at lunch. There was also an outdoor seating area at the far aft end. There were stairways leading up that were marked as emergency exits.

 

I had heard many comments (including from the bus driver) that Cabanas is set up very differently than buffets on the older ships, and it more like a food court. I'm honestly not sure what the difference is. I assume they are referring to the fact that there are different stations, which change each day. But that was a similar setup to the buffet on the Carnival ships that we've been on recently. And, if my memory is correct, that was also how the buffet was set up on the Disney Wonder when I was on it in 2006. Although, given how long ago I was on the Wonder, it is very possible that I mis-remembered the buffet setup on the Wonder.

 

In any case, I enjoyed the food a lot, and there was always a great variety of food! But, to be honest, I though that the lunch buffet on Carnival was even better, since it offered stations such as a burrito station, an Indian tandoori, and a Mongolian barbecue which Disney did not offer. When I was on the Disney Wonder in 2006, I thought that I remembered a taco station one day, but I did not ever see that on this cruise on the Dream, unless it was on the Castaway Cay day (unlikely) when we did not eat on the ship.

 

After lunch, I always enjoy exploring the ship! The focal point of any warm-weather cruise is the pool deck!! The main pool deck was on Deck 11 midship, just forward of Cabanas. The main pool deck was very fun and festive, with 2 pools (the Mickey pool for children and the Donald pool for families), a water play area for young children (Nemo's Reef), a slide for children (Mickey's slide), the Funnel Vision which showed movies (similar to Carnival's seaside theater), and there was usually music playing! The unique feature here was the Aqua Duck, a watercoaster completely circling this deck (entrance from a stairway on Deck 12). I will talk more in tomorrow's section (Monday, Sept. 8) about the pools and the Aqua Duck, when I would get to use them!! But it was interesting even seeing the Aqua Duck from below and seeing others sail through it! The pools and Aqua Duck were all closed today due to weather (not sure why, it wasn't raining), but it didn't matter since we didn't have time to use them today anyway. Also, unlike Carnival, there was no bar by the main pool, but that wasn't a problem, since there were plenty of bars on the outdoor decks.

 

On both sides of the forward funnel, there were several quick service food locations. Didn't eat at any of them, with so many food options elsewhere, so I can't really comment on them. Forward of the funnel was the adult-only area, which was a very nice and quiet section of the ship. It included the Quiet Cove pool, which was a very peaceful alternative to the main pools, and featured a few sitting areas, as well as the Cove Bar, which included barstools both in the water and on the deck. There was also the Cove Cafe, and indoor coffee shop. It looked very nice, but I didn't spend much time in there.

 

The adult-only section of Deck 11 reminded me of the aft pool area on the Carnival ships, since it was a quieter alternative to the very fun and festive main pool deck. Unlike Carnival, it was easier to get to, since it did not require walking through the buffet (with wet swimsuits) or bypassing the buffet on the next deck to get to it, but the forward funnel still provided enough seperation to make it quiet and feel like a distinct area. In fact, for what it's worth, on the Disney Dream, you can't use Deck 12 to bypass the buffet area and get to the aft elevators, since you are blocked by Palo and Remy (you may be able to use one elevator that goes to Deck 13, but I never tried it, and needing to go up 2 decks would defeat the purpose anyway).

 

Next was Deck 12, which encircles both of the pool areas below and has a lot of seating. People on every cruise line (not just Disney) complain about a lack of deck chairs on the pool deck. But if you are willing to go up a deck (to 12 in this case), there is plenty of seating available for everyone! I just suggest that you wear your flip flops when walking down to the pool area, since the deck can get hot! The most notable feature on Deck 12 is the entrance to the Aqua Duck, which, again, I will talk about in more detail tomorrow! Deck 12 also has a completely seperate aft area, accessible from the aft elevators only, which has Palo and Remy (the two extra-charge restaurants, which we did not eat at) and Meridian, but we did not explore that area at all yet.

 

Deck 13 has 2 distinct areas (plus the Edge tween club in the forward funnel). The forward section is an adult only sun deck, which offers great views, and is the only outdoor access to the front of the ship! It reminds me a lot of the adult-only serenity area on Carnival's Dream-class ships. It offers seating with beautiful views of the ocean, and another bar, called Currents. There was also a concierge sundeck, for concierge guests only, which I could not access, since we were not staying in a concierge level room. Since when we were on the ship we were mostly using the pools and Aqua Duck, we didn't use this area much.

 

The seperate aft section of Deck 13 is the sports deck. Didn't spend much time here either, but it seemed to have basketball, mini-golf, and a sports simulator (not sure what it was). If we were on a longer cruise (rather than first going to Disney World), we may have played mini-golf, but didn't have time on this shorter cruise. Unlike the Carnival Magic (and Breeze, but not Dream), there was no ropes course on this sports deck. Honestly, that was not a problem for me at all, since I found the ropes course on the Carnival Magic to be scary wen I was on it in 2012, so it didn't bother me that this ship didn't have it.

 

Since Deck 5 mostly has venues for children, we didn't explore that deck at all, and next we explored Deck 4. This is the 2nd deck of the atrium, and offers a nice view of the lobby. The forward section had the balcony of the Walt Disney Theater (will talk more about that later), as well as the Buena Vista movie theater (which we were never in). Near the lobby was the Shutters photo shop, which was set up like a library! At first, I didn't know that it was the photo shop. I really liked the way the photo shop was set up; you scan your card, and it tell you what section and book number your photos are in. This was a much better setup and made it much easier to find your photos than just about any other ship that I've been on, including the Disney Wonder. Nearby was the art gallery, which we never really explored. Next was the D Lounge, which was a very nice family entertainment area. We weren't in that space that much, since we were just 2 adults travelling without any children, so we mostly spent our evenings in the adult-oriented areas.

 

The aft section of Deck 4 was the adult entertainment area, known as The District. This is where we spent most of our time in the evenings, and I will describe specific activities later in the review. The District reminded me of the adult entertainment section of the Carnival ships that I've been on. Both on the Disney Dream and on the Carnival Conquest Class and Dream Class ships, I like the way that most of the nighttime entertainment venues are clustered together, since it makes it easy to hop from one venue to another, and tends to make the nightlife more lively. In this case, even the D Lounge was nearby. The Disney Wonder also had the adult entertainment venues clustered together (but not the family club), but on the Dream, this area is far bigger and has far more venues than the Wonder has. There was also food available in the District area at night, and it looked good, but I never had any of it, since any time I was there, I was either saving my appetite for dinner, or I was full from dinner.

 

Again, I will talk more about the venues that we visited later in the review when discussing specific activities, but briefly: the District Lounge had comfortable seating, a bar, and a stage. There would typically be a trio performing there, who I really enjoyed listening to. Unlike the Carnival ships I've been on, the Disney Dream does not have a piano bar, although I felt that the District Lounge kind of served the purpose that the piano bar served. If I remember right, the Disney Wonder also has or had a piano bar. Next was Pink, which was a very unique-looking space, patterned after the inside of a champagne bottle. I beleive it is mostly a champagne bar. Next was 687, which primarily served as a sports bar. Next was the Evlolution Club, which was a nightclub where we spent the majority of our time during the night. This club had a very cool atmosphere with a butterfly theme, and was a lot of fun! Finally was the Skyline lounge, which is another very unique bar, in this case, featuring city skylines from around the world.

 

The one adult entertainment venue that Disney ships lack is a casino. I'm not a big gambler, so the lack of a casino in itself is not a major loss for me. However, casinos are a good source of revenue for cruise lines, and help reduce the cost of cruises. The one major disadvantage to Disney is the cost, so having a casino to reduce the cost would have been helpful.

 

It was now getting close to the muster drill, so we stopped our tour of the ship (we will complete it tonight). We went back to our room, and very briefly began unpacking. When the alarm sounded for the muster drill, around 4 PM, we went to our muster station. Your station is marked on your card. In our case, we followed the directions and took a stairway (normally for crew only) to the outdoor deck on Deck 4. They had a scanner where at least one person from every stateroom had to scan their card to prove that they were at the muster drill. We did not have to bring our lifejacket to the drill. If I remember right, when I was on the Wonder in 2006, we had to bring the lifejacket to the drill. The drill was basically the same as any other cruise I've been on. They said that families will be kept together.

 

The sailaway party was at 4:30, so we had a little time to return to our stateroom for more unpacking. And then we went up to Deck 11 for the sailaway party! The sailaway party is always a part of a cruise that I look forward to!! Our tradition is always to buy the drink of the day in a souvenier glass at the sailaway party; in this case, the drink of the day was the Bahama Mama, which is appropriate, since we are going to the Bahamas!!

 

We then returned to our room to finally finish unpacking, and to take our showers and get dressed for the evening. Since we have late dining (which I highly recommend for adult couples who want to enjoy lunch and want to enjoy the ports). We then went to the Golden Mickeys show at 6:15 in the Walt Disney Theater. Since we were running late (we got there as soon as the show started) we went straight to the balcony on Deck 4, figuring we'd have a better chance of getting a seat up there. I like the way that Disney times their shows far better than the way Carnival typically times their shows. On Disney, if you opt for late dining, your show time is before dinner. On Carnival, if you opt for late dining, or have Anytime dining and eat later (as we usually do), the shows are usually (not always) after dinner, and they tend to conflict with nightclub activities. I find that Disney's scheduling allows for more efficient use of time. It would have been helpful if the show was slightly later and ended just before dinner, but I'm guessing that the cast member of the show eat dinner in between the two shows.

 

Before the show, they introduced our cruise director, Christian, who seemed very nice! Although, on a short cruise like this one, you don't get to see the cruise director as much as you would on a longer cruise. The theater was very beautiful, and even the balcony gave good views of the stage. Understandably, entertainment is a strength of Disney's. We enjoyed the Golden Mickeys show a lot. It was different from the show we saw in 2006 but with a similar theme. This is designed as an award show, and is a tribute to past Disney productions.

 

After the show, since we had some time before dinner, we went to the District Lounge, and listened to Nina Benvenuti. She sang and played the piano, and had a very beautiful voice. Tonight, she sang mostly in a jazz style; the rest of the week she was part of a trio. There was also the Dreem Duo, who performed throughout the cruise in the lobby. On all of our cruises, we enjoy listening to the lobby singer.

 

At 8:15, it was time for dinner!! Dinner is always one of the highlights of any cruise!! We really enjoy Disney's rotational dining, since it allows you to rotate to 3 different dining rooms, each with a completely different atmosphere. The rotational dining is completely unique to Disney; I am not aware of any other cruise line that offers anything similar. On Carnival, you can choose either fixed-time dining or anytime dining, but either way, you will be in the same dining room for the entire cruise, which is not as much fun as rotational dining. Anytime dining on Carnival gives you the flexibility to eat whenever you want (depending on your schedule and appetite that day), which you don't get with Disney, but you don't get the same servers every day. I was also on a Norwegian cruise in 2007, which offers freestyle dining, where you an eat whenever you want and can choose from several different dining rooms each night, which I also enjoyed a lot, but again, you don't get the same servers every night. Basically, every cruise line dining system has its pros and cons, but Disney's rotational dining is unique.

 

Our rotation was ERRA. We had thought that the 2nd night would be the formal night, so we thought that rotation would have us in the formal night in Royal Palace. However, due to the Halloween activities on the 2nd night, the formal night was on the 4th night, so we were in the more casual Animator's Palate for formal night. Honestlly, since formal night on the 4th night didn't have much participation, it didn't really matter to me. I wonder if they put adult couples with no children in the ERRA rotation so that we go to Royal Palace twice.

 

In any case, tonight's dinner was at Enchanted Garden, which is on Deck 2 midship! To get there, use the midship elevator (you can probably also use the forward elevator, but not the aft elevator), or take the stairs down from the lobby. Enchanted Garden is a very beautiful restaurant, one of my favorites!! This is patterned after the garden of Versailles, and is very beautiful, with a fountain near the entrance. It also changes to show a transition from day to night. I also noticed several unique round booths; we were not seated in one; I assume that they are used for a family that is sized appropriately to fill one. We were seated with 2 other couples; a total of 6 at our table. We got along very well with both of the couples and enjoyed talking with them about their cruise and about other vacations that they have been on.

 

Our serving team was very nice. They told us that Enchanted Garden specializes in seafood, so I ordered a seafood dish! I enjoyed the food a lot! Unlike Carnival, Disney's meals have an extra course: appetizer, soup or salad, entree, and dessert.

 

My wife seems to think that Carnival's food was slightly better, although I did not notice much difference between cruise lines. Interestingly, when we were on our first Carnival cruise in 2011, my wife commented that she felt Disney's food (and NCL's food) was slightly better. I think that what happens is that when it's your first time on a cruise line (or the first time in many years, such as this one), you may not know which items are the best to order. On our first Carnival cruise in 2011, we may have ordered some items that were not the best, thinking Disney's food was better. But on subsequent Carnival cruises in 2012 and 2013, we knew which items we enjoyed most, and ordered those items. But since this was our first Disney cruise since 2006, we were less familiar with the menu, and may have ordered some items that were not the best (for example, my wife ordered a pasta dish at Animator's Palate the last night, which she said wasnt that good; obviously she won't order it again on a future Disney cruise). One thing that Carnival did have which Disney did not have was several items that are available every day, although I never ordered any of those items on Carnival, so not having them on Disney was not a big loss. However, for dessert, Carnival does have a signature dessert available every night, the warm chocolate melting cake, and also offers a cheese platter and a fruit platter for dessert every night, and Disney does not offer anything comparable to either of those. Although, I did enjoy Disney's desserts very much.

 

After dinner, we went to the Evolution Nightclub, which, as I said, was where we spent most of our time at night. Tonight, there was live music with Mandy and Josh. Mandy was the singer, and she had a very beautiful voice, and Josh played the guitar (later in the week, they'll be joined by Nina to form a trio). Since we have to get up early tomorrow for an early excursion (plus we got up early today to go to church), and we were still tired from our Disney World trip, we didn't stay too late at the club (we didn't stay for the Match Your Mate show, which probably would have been fun). Since I am a non-smoker, and I hate cigarette smoke, I am glad that Disney does not allow smoking in the nightclub. Carnival does allow smoking in the nightclub, though to be honest, I saw very few smokers on Carnival, so it wasn't a huge difference. But the less smoking, the better, especially since smoking on a ship seems dangerous.

 

We did however, complete our exploration of the ship by exploring Deck 3. As I said, the lobby is very beautiful. Every Disney ship has a different character statue in the lobby; this ship has Donald. The lobby includes the front desk and includes a bar, just like every cruise ship we've been on. It also includes the entrance to Royal Palace. Going aft, there is a long hallway leading to Animator's Palate. Unlike the Carnival Conquest class and Dream class ships, you can walk the entire length of the lobby deck and get to both dining rooms on that deck. You are not blocked in the middle, since there is a hallway around it. The Wonder also has this hallway. It's a very minor point, but it makes navigating the ship slightly easier, and it allows you to do more walking on the more interesting Deck 3, rather than the less interesting stateroom decks.

 

Forward of the lobby has the shopping area with 3 shops. Two of them, Mickey's Mainsail, and Sea Treasure, mostly sold Disney items. Mickey's Mainsail seemed to include a seperate Disney Princess section. I don't remember what the difference was between the two shops. The third shop, Whitecaps, was the duty free shop selling higher end jewlery and alcohol. We're not big shoppers, so we didn't do much shopping. On every cruise ship I've ever been on, on any cruise line, the shops seem to focus more on souveniers, rather than necessities, and this ship was no exception. At the forward end of Deck 3 was the main level of the theater, with a mural of Walt Disney outside. I've already described the theater earlier.

 

On Deck 4, we stopped by the photoshop, Shutters, to buy our embarkation photo. As I said earlier, the library setup was very unique, and made it very easy to find your photos. Deck 4 also includes an ourdoor deck, which we did not explore tonight; I will talk about it in tomorrow's section of the review.

 

One final note: the deck plans showed a space called Outlook, on Deck 14 midship, above the Edge tween club, which so far, we had not found. The stairs on Deck 12 midship going up are marked only as going to Edge, so we did not use them. However, we did notice that one of the midship elevators goes up to Deck 14. By total chance we got that elevator when we called for an elevator going up, so we took it all the way up to Deck 14, out of curiosity. There was an entrance to radio studio (I assume it's not open to the public, so I did not attempt to enter), and what appered to be an emergency exit, but was really the entrance to Outlook. I am not sure what the intended purpose of Outlook is, maybe just a quiet space. There didn't seem to be activities scheduled for there, and I didn't see a bar or anything else in there. There was a piano which was not being used. I heard from one of our tablemates that it is used for weddings. Is that true? It's also interesting that as far as I could tell, it is accessible only by elevator, and not by stairs. Is that true? Or is there some way to access it by stairs? I assume it must have an emergency exit using stairs.

 

On the topic of elevators: one of the aft elevators goes to Deck 13; the others do not. I was never in that elevator going up, so I never pressed 13. Does it go to the sports deck? The deck plan does not show the elevators going up there. I was only on that deck once, and didn't notice if an elevator went up there. Does it go to the sports deck, or to somewhere else?

 

Also, we went up to Deck 12 Aft, an isolated area only accessible by the aft elevators and stairways, in order to explore. That is where Palo and Remy are located. We did eat at Palo back in 2006 on the Wonder, when it was only $10, a great deal! However, we do not see any purpose in paying $50 or $70 for Palo or Remy with the current price structure, so we did not go to either restaurant this time. Keep in mind that it is not just $50 or $70, but $50 or $70 plus the loss of a main dining room meal. Yes, I realize that in theory, you could eat at both the main dining room and Palo or Remy, but realistically, I can't eat that much! Since we enjoy the rotational main dining rooms very much, and we frequently go out to nice dinners on land usually for a lot less than $50 per person, we saw no point in booking Palo or Remy. But they do seem popular. This isolated area also had a bar called Meridian. This looked like a nice space and also had an outdoor area. My impression was that Meridian was mostly intended for people having a drink before or after dinner at Palo or Remy, or for cigar smoking. Given the isolated location, it's not an area that you'd pass by chance, and I don't recall seeing activities scheduled for it.

 

In any case, we went back to our room, and sat on the verandah for a while to watch the ocean. We always enjoy sitting on our verandah at night to watch the ocean; it is something that we look forward to each night on a cruise. Again, we have an early excursion tomorrow morning, so we didn't stay up for too long tonight.

 

Had a really great time on our first day of the cruise, and a great follow up to our stay at Disney World! Also, it was nice being able to rest my feet somewhat tonight after our time at Disney World! If you've ever been to Disney World, you know what I am talking about! Excited about our snorkeling excursion tomorrow!!

[mitsguy2001]

Monday, September 8, 2014 (Nassau, Bahamas)

 

Today we are going on the Catamaran Sail and Reef Snorkel excursion! We always go snorkeling in one port on every cruise, and it is something we look forward to. We booked the excursion through Disney. We booked it in the morning, so that after our excursion, we can return to the ship, and have lunch at the buffet and enjoy the ship while many people would still be in port.

 

We had breakfast today at the buffet in Cabanas. There are 3 breakfast options each morning: the main buffet in Cabanas; a buffet in Enchanted Garden, and a sit-down breakfast in Royal Palace. The Cabanas breakfast buffet is a typical cruise ship breakfast buffet; they don't seem to vary much from one cruise line to another. Though Disney of course has the Mickey waffles, which other cruise lines obviously do not have! We went to the Enchanted Garden buffet on Wednesday morning; it was smaller but had a similar selection. We did not eat at the sit-down breakfast in Royal Palace. When our server last night told everyone about the 3 options for breakfast, she said that all 3 options have the Mickey waffles!

 

For our snorkeling excursion, we had to meet in the 687 Lounge, at (if I remember right) 9:15 AM. Meeting on the ship for excursions seems to be unique to Disney. I find it more convenient than other cruise lines where you have to meet somewhere off the ship. Also, they had towels available in the 687 Lounge for the excursion. Every cruise line seems to have a different way of handling towels. I was very happy to see that the weather was beautiful today!! I was worried, since the Daily Navigator's weather forecast for today didn't sound so great. Honestly, the weather forecasts in the Daily Navigator seemed useless, so don't let them discourage you.

 

From the 687 Lounge, they escorted us off the ship, and we had a short walk to where we boarded the catamaran for our excursion. The catamaran sail to the snorkeling site is always an enjoyable part of the excursion! The staff is very helpful in getting everybody their snorkel gear and giving instructions on how to set it up. It often takes me a while to get my gear adjusted correct, and it took me a few tries on this excursion. But they gave plenty of snorkeling time on this excursion, so it wasn't a major problem. The coral and the fish were very beautiful! The Bahamas is a great place for snorkeling, since there are no rivers emptying into the ocean, so the water is very clear. It's always a great feeing being a part of Nature's aquarium!! I definitely recommend this excursion to anyone who enjoys snorkeling!

 

At the end of the excursion, the catamaran took us back to the port in Nassau. We had to walk through a shopping area to get back to the ship. Since we're not into shopping, we just walked back to the ship.

 

Before I continue discussing our day, I do want to say that I consider Nassau to be a very underrated port. I feel that many people assume that all you can do is walk around the town (which is probably not all that interesting), and don't realize that there are so many other excursions that you can go on, such as snorkeling. Last year, I was on a Carnival cruise that had Nassau as a port, and did not include a private island. On that cruise, on our Nassau day, we went on an excursion to Blue Lagoon Island, which offers a private island experience somewhat similar to Castaway Cay. In my opinion, cruise lines should start marketing this port as "Bahamas" rather than "Nassau", to emphasize that there are many excursions available (the same ones available at most Caribbean islands) such as beaches, snorkeling, private island experiences, etc. The name "Nassau" makes many people assume that the town is all there is to the excursion. Most other ports are referred to by the name of the island, not the name of the town where the port is located, although I guess many cruisers might not be familiar with "New Providence" as the name of the island where Nassau is located.

 

Back on the ship, we had an enjoyable lunch at the Cabanas buffet. Next, since the line wasn't too long, we finally went on the Aqua Duck!! This is one of the main things I was looking forward to on this cruise. The entrance is on Deck 12, near the aft funnel, above the main pool area. Near the entrance, there is a board telling you how long the wait is, just like at the Disney parks. There was also an area with cubbies to leave your belongings when going on the aquaduck. But be careful, the deck is hot! You then go up a stairway that leads above the top of the ship, to where you board your tube for the Aqua Duck! On the Aqua Duck, you sit in a tube, which either one or two people can go in; if you go by yourself, you sit in the back. The Aqua Duck takes you through a mostly clear tube, part of which is cantilevered off the side of the ship, and it takes you around the main pool area, including through the fake funnel with the theater screen! It is a lot of fun! Although it is referred to as a "water coaster", it is very mild, and is not a thrill ride by any stretch of the imagination. The only reason it is called a coaster is because it includes a few places where it goes up an incline, rather than just down, like a traditional slide. Even if you don't like roller coasters or intense water slides, I recommend you give this one a try. Don't let the term water coaster scare you off; it has no steep drops at all. I have heard it referred to as more of a lazy river ride; I would say it is somewhat of a cross between a lazy river and a water slide. It is definitely a unique feature of this ship. If you have been on a Carnival ship with Carnival Waterworks, the Aqua Duck is definitely milder than either the Twister or Drainpipe slides, and gives you a much longer ride. If you are looking for a thrill ride, you will be disapointed. The Aqua Duck ends near the cubbies on Deck 12, so you can retrieve your belongings, and is more convenient than a slide that ends on another deck nowhere near where you started.

 

Next, we went to the main pool area, and went in the Donald Pool! The Mickey Pool I think is intended for young kids, although I didn't notice any signs. The Donald Pool is the main family pool. As I said earlier, although it is hard to get seating next to the pool, if you go up to Deck 12, there is ample seating near the pool, so you should never have a problem finding a seat. Just remember, the deck is hot, so be sure to wear your flip flops or water shoes when going back downstairs, and leave them outside the pool. The pool was a lot of fun! Splashing in the pool is always fun on a cruise! These pools are the typical cruise ship pools, which are small, and not designed for serious swimming, but are still a lot of fun. One other major difference between Disney and other cruise lines is that the pools on Disney have freshwater rather than saltwater. Otherwise, pools don't vary much from one cruise line to antoher. Although, one thing I noticed was that this pool was deeper than the pools on Carnival or on the Disney Wonder, so it was difficult to stand up in the pool. Most of the people in the middle of the pool seemed to be children with floatation devices. I'm not sure why Disney made these pools deeper. This main pool area is a fun, lively, festive area with the Funnel Vision above showing Disney movies!

 

Next, we went forward to the adult area, again, finding a chair one deck above, on Deck 12. The Quiet Cove Pool was really nice, and was a quiet alternative to the main pool area. This pool area was very nice aesthetically, and, as I said earlier, featured two seating areas, plus bar stools for the adjacent Cove Bar, plus the main pool area in the middle. This pool was slightly deeper than the Donald Pool, and the sitting areas seemed to be the most popular.

 

Hopping between different pools and waterslides is always something we look forward to on cruises!! It was hard getting ourselves to leave the pool area, but we did have to get ready for tonight's activities. We returned to our room and took showers, and got dressed for the evening. Tonight had a Halloween theme, but, to be honest, I'm not sure what the point was. Since most people (including us) did not know that there would be a Halloween night, very few people had costumes. Even if we knew, that would have meant something extra to pack. Also, early September is too eary for Halloween (just as I consider most of November to be too early for Christmas).

 

The show tonight was called Villains Tonight. This time, we sat in the main section of the theater, on Deck 3. This show was unique since it focused on the villains! We enjoyed this he rshow a lot, since it was something different. As I said before, entertainment is definitely a strength of Disney. One line from the show as the villains said that if it wasn't for them, the heroes would have nothing to do! Good point! Next, we went to the District Lounge, to listen to Mandy Meadows and the Honeytons, which appeared to be Mandy and Josh from last night, joined by Nina Benvenuto, with Mandy as the lead singer! We enjoyed listening to them a lot, and they seemed really nice! They had a book listing songs that they perform so that you could make requests. We requested "Love Song", by Sara Baereilles, since we felt that was a song that would work well with their style and with Mandy's voice.

 

Our dinner tonight was in Royal Palace, the formal dining room off of the lobby! This was a very beautiful dining room, and was designed as a palace from a Disney princess movie. The Daily Navigator refers to it as a French restaurant, although its menu was very diverse. I ordered the lobster mac and cheese, which I enjoyed, although the server tried to talk me out of it. She referred to it as a children's meal. I do not feel she should have referred to it as a children's meal; it was clearly on the adult menu, and other adults at our table ordered it. I enjoyed it a lot. She tried to recommend the steak, and although I do like steak very much, I was honestly in the mood tonight for the lobster mac and cheese, rather than steak. The others who ordered it also seemed to enjoy it.

 

After dinner, we listened to more music in the District Lounge, and then we went to the adult commedy / ventriloquist show, in the Evolution nightclub. The performer was Lynn Trefzger, a comedian and ventriloquist. We liked her very much, since she was very funny, and the adult show was slightly risque and adult oriented without being really dirty. We enjoyed her far more than most of the adult commed shows on the Carnival cruises! Most of the adult shows that we saw on Carnival were not at all funny and were very dirty, so this was a welcome change. Next, we went to family karaoke in the D Lounge. This was mostly young children singing Disney songs, which was cute, but we didn't sing anything, although the book did also include popular non-Disney songs. My favorite was a brother and sister duo who sang the Winnie the Pooh song!

 

Next, remember I mentioned that Deck 4 has an outdoor deck encircling the deck. We decided to explore that deck. Honestly, it wasn't too exciting. It was mostly intended a walking and jogging deck, and it had shuffleboard. Parts of it were enclosed and didn't have a view, but most of it had nice views of the ocean. This was also where our muster station was. All the way forward, on the port side, was the stairway entrance to the Vibe teen club. The port side also seemed to have sections for smoking. Honestly, the Carnival Dream class ships do a lot more with the outside deck, which they call the lanai. On the Carnival Dream class ships, this deck includes hot tubs, a barbecue, and outdoor seating for some of the indoor venues on this deck. Not a big loss, since I rarely used that deck on Carnival, although it did reduce the demand for the lido deck on Carnival. Speaking of hot tubs, I don't recall seeing many hot tubs on this ship, although I rarely use them on a warm weather cruise anyway.

 

We were tired, so we returned to our room and sat on the verandah for a while. It was nice being able to spend more time on the verandah tonight, since we aren't under any time pressure tomorrow morning to get up early. Sitting on the verandah at night is very relaxing! We now had a wonderful time at Disney World and 2 wonderful days on the cruise, with 2 more days remaining, including tomorrow, Castaway Cay, the highlight of the cruise!!

[mitsguy2001]

Tuesday, September 9, 2014 (Castaway Cay)

 

As I said, Castaway Cay is the highlight of a a Disney cruise!! I was glad to see that the weather was beatiful today!! We got up later, having no time real time constraints. We had breakfast again at the Cabanas buffet! And then we went down to the gangway to leave the ship and go to Castaway Cay!! Castaway Cay is beautiful and peaceful; everything you want in a private island. There are many activities for children, two family beach areas, an adult beach area, and a barbecue lunch called Cookies, as well as many other amenities! We took the tram to the first main family beach area. If you have been to Castaway Cay years ago, the beach area has been expanded since then, to accommodate the larger number of people on the Dream and Fantasy. There seemed to be two tram stops: the first was for the children's area and near the first family beach area. The second, Pelican Point, was near the new family beach area, and was where you could transfer to the tram to Serenity Bay, the adult beach area. We spent the morning at the main family beach area, and got chairs that were not far from Cookies, and were in between the two tram stops. The water was very beautiful and warm and clear, and we could have stayed in the water forever! We had lunch at the Cookies barbecue, which I always enjoy.

 

I do know that a new facility at Castaway Cay is the Pellican Plunge water park. I don't know much about it and we did not see it at all. Are the slides mostly intended for children, or do adults go on them too? We were tempted to go there to find out, but, honestly, both my wife and I were more in the mood for relaxing on the beach rather than going to a water park. So, we took the tram to Serenity Bay, the adult beach area. Or, at least that is what we intended to do. I thought that back in 2006, the same tram that went from the ship to the main beach area continued on to Serenity Bay. Did I remember wrong, or have things changed? The tram we got on turned around, and took us all the way back to the ship. We assumed that we could just stay on that tram, and it would turn around and take us all the way to Serenity Bay. But that was not the case; it just took us back to Pelican Point. We then had to transfer to another tram to get to Serenity Bay.

 

In any case, when we finally got to Serenity Bay, it was very beautiful and peaceful! Not many people were there at all. Definitely quieter than the main beach. We both got a pina colada from the bar. The pina coladas at this bar are always especially smooth! And we really enjoyed being in the water. Again, we could have stayed there forever. But, of course, we did have to return to the ship eventually.

 

We took the tram back to Pelican Point, and transferred to the tram back to the ship. It always sad ending such a wonderful day!! Though, at least we have the rest of the night and another day on the cruise to look forward to!!

 

Back on the ship, we went back to our room to shower and get ready for the evening activities! Tonight is pirate night! There were bandanas on our bed, and we wore the pirate shirts that we purchased at the Magic Kingdom. The first event of the night was a family comedy / ventriloquist show with Lynn Trefzger, in the Walt Disney Theater. Since we enjoyed her adult show last night, we also went to this family show! We enjoyed it a lot, and I liked the fact that it was a completely different show, rather than just a cleaned up version of the adult show. I definitely recommend seeing both of her shows, since they are completely different, and not redundant to each other at all!

 

Next was the Pirates In the Caribbean Deck Party, on Deck 11. Deck parties are always fun, no matter what cruise line! As expected, Disney did a great job with this deck party. Next was dinner. We were in Royal Palace again, and had the special Pirates in the Caribbean menu! I'm not sure why some people dislike the pirate menu; I felt that the food was comparable in quality to the other menus. My dinner was called Treasures of the Ocean (or something like that, I forget the full name) which was a pasta dish with seafood, and it was really good! For dessert, I had the rum ice cream sundae, which I also had back in 2006, and something I look forward to on pirate night!!

 

We were somewhat confused, since our server told us that the fireworks were immediately after dinner (perhaps due to rain?), but the Daily Navigator said they were at 10:30. After asking around, it seemed they were still at 10:30. We had our picture taken with Pirate Goofy, outside the Walt Disney theater. And then we went up to Deck 11 for the fireworks. We were in a position where we would have had a great view, but unfortunately it started to pour! We went under the overhang, but that blocked the view. Luckily, when the fireworks started, the rain calmed down somewhat, and I was able to get closer so that I had a good view of the fireworks. I remember on the Wonder in 2006, Mickey was on a zipline between the two funnels. That did not happen on this cruise? Was that something that was eliminated sometime between 2006 and now? Or is that not possible on the Dream? Or was that cancelled due to the weather?

 

Next, we went back downstairs to adult Krazy Karaoke, in the Evolution Club. Honestly, the setup of this room does not really work for karaoke, because in order to see the screen with the lyrics, the singer has to face away from the audience. For this reason, despite there being a lot of people in the club, there was not much participation in karaoke. Some singers faced the audience and did not look at the screen, understandably resulting in them being out of sync with the music and singing incorrect lyrics. Some faced the screen but had their back to the audience. And some of them faced the side. My wife and I didn't sing anything, since by the time it finally got started, it was almost over. We stayed at the club for a short while after karaoke ended. The music was mostly the same as what Carnival plays in the music, focusing mostly on hip hop, rather than the theme nights that Disney had in the clubs back in 2006. (I preferred the theme nights)

 

We returned to our room and again, sat on our verandah for a while to watch the ocean! It was sad to end another wonderful day, but at least we had another day to look forward to!

[mitsguy2001]

Wednesday, September 10, 2014 (Sea Day)

 

I always enjoy sea days, since they are very relaxed! We got up later today. We had breakfast at Enchanted Garden. We ate there since we wanted to see it during the day. It has a smaller buffet with selections similar to Cabannas. After breakfast we purchased our photos with Pirate Goofy from the night before, and also purchased some souveniers. The rest of our day was very relaxing, hopping between the Donald Pool, Quiet Cove Pool, Aqua Duck, and have lunch at Cabanas. The wait time for the Aqua Duck was shorter than I had expected. Being a sea day, I would have expected the lines to be really long, but they really weren't. Had no trouble getting a chair near either pool; again, we had to go up to Deck 12, but that's not a big deal at all. We also spent some time on our verandah watching the ocean during the day. We then took our showers and got dressed for tonight's activities, and also began packing.

 

Tonight was dress up night, and we did get dressed up tonight, although with it being the last night of the cruise, many people did not dress up (less than any other cruise we've been on). The show tonight was Believe, which was an inspirational story where a workaholic father learns an important lesson from his young daughter. Another very nice show.

 

We then went to the Onboard Sales Desk, on Deck 4, to lock in our rate for a 7 night cruise on the Fantasy! I don't know whether or not we will be able to go on the cruise that we booked, but it seemed like a good deal to lock in the rate. It's a good deal since they give an onboard credit, and you can change the cruise to another date with no penalty, and up until 90 days before the cruise, you can cancel with no penalty. Unlike most cruise lines, the price of a Disney cruise keeps increasing, so it's best to lock in a good rate when you can! We booked a Category 5C room again. The guy at the desk was trying to talk us into booking a more forward room. But all of the rooms are either next to the elevator and stairs or are connecting rooms. So, we booked the same room (different ship) that we had on this cruise! Connecting rooms tend to be noisier, and you are more likely to be bumped to a different room (perhaps in an undesireable location), so we booked this same room, knowing firsthand that it is in a quiet location, is in a reasonably convenient location, and had a good view of the ocean.

 

We then listened briefly again to Mandy and the Honeytons in the District Lounge. And then we went to dinner at Animator's Palate, on Deck 3 Aft. Animator's Palate had a cute theme; it is the most casual of the main dining rooms, so it didn't really fit with dress up night. But it was nice seeing the show on the walls. For dinner, I was undecided beteen a pasta dish or a veal chop. The server recommended the veal chop, so I ordered that, and it appears that was the right decision, since I enjoyed it very much! My wife ordered the pasta dish, and said it wasn't that good.

 

Even though it was dress up night, we had to finish packing before they would pick up our luggage outside the room, and we needed to pack our formal clothes, so we returned the room to change into more casual clothes and to pack. Again, that makes dress up night on the last night of the cruise somewhat pointless. It is always sad on the last night of a cruise seeing the usual towel animal and chocolates on the bed but with no Daily Navigator. We put our debarkation tags on our luggage, and we were wondering: why does Disney put cute characters on the debarkation tags? Wouldn't it make more sense to have villains on the tags, since ending a wonderful cruise is really sad?

 

After packing and putting our luggage outside our room, we went back to the District Lounge to listen to Mandy and the Honeytons one last time. After they finished performing for the night, I briefly chatted with Mandy; she seemed very nice, and she seemed to really like her job, although she admitted that it is exhausting!

 

Next we went to the Evolution club for my favorite nighttime event of the cruise: the 80s Music Challenge! I was born in 1979, so I grew up during the 80s, and I am a big fan of 80s music! This was a trivia contest, between the men and the women. In addition, when Vogue was played, all of the women had to go up to the dance floor, and when Billie Jean was played, all of the men had to go up to the dance floor; points were given for each person on the dance floor. There were more women than men (at least participating), so the women had a huge advantage, but I still had a lot of fun!! After the 80s trivia contest, the schedule advertized a 70s and 80s rewind night. In reality, they did maybe 2 songs from the 70s and 80s before reverting back to the usual music they played at the club the rest of the week. The same thing tended to happen with the so-called theme nights on Carnival, so this was not unexpected.

 

Traditionally, on the last night of the cruise, before returning to our room for the last time, we take a walk around the outdoor deck (on Deck 4 of this shp), and then return to our room and sit on the balcony and watch the ocean for a while, as we do on other nights. We had a wonderful time on this cruise, and this was one of our favorite ships! We liked the way we combined the land trip to Disney World with the cruise; this made it feel like it was 2 vacations in one, and helped it feel a little longer. We were very sad, of course, to be ending such a wonderful vacation.

Edited October 1, 2014 by mitsguy2001

[mitsguy2001]

Thursday, September 11, 2014 (End of cruise)

 

The end of a cruise is always a sad day. Disney has a sit-down breakfast on debarkation morning in whichever restaurant you ate at the previous night (Animator's Palate, in our case). Luckily, with late dining, we were able to sleep later than the early dining people, whose breakfast was much earlier. I do not remember the time of our breakfast (maybe 8:30 AM or so). There is also the option of having breakfast at Cabanas if you don't like the time of your debarkation breakfast.

 

What was interesting was that when I ordered a waffle for my breakfast, they gave standard square waffles, rather than the Mickey waffles. Was that to transition us back to the real world? Or were the rectangular waffles somehow less expensive to make?

 

After breakfast, we debarked the ship, retreived our luggage, and went through customs. All mostly uneventful. Interestingly, this was the first time since checking our luggage at the airport before our Disney World trip that we actually had to handle our luggage ourselves! And then we took Disney's bus back to Orlando Airport (MCO).

 

Our flight wasn't until 2:45 PM, we had to wait a little while until we were able to check into our flight. Since this was a weekday early in the school year, the airport was not crowded at all. Quite a contrast from last year where we debarked a Carnival cruise out of Port Canaveral on a Saturday during the summer, and MCO was mobbed and we nearly missed our flight. This year, with the airport being nearly empty and having several hours until our flight, it was much more relaxed. We were advised that it is best to have lunch before going through security, since there are better selections of restaurants in the main terminal, rather than the airside terminals. We had lunch at Chili's. There was no line at all to go through security. Our flight was on Southwest Airlines, to Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP). The flight went well; on time and uneventful. We picked up our baggage from the baggage claim, walked a short distance to the parking lot where we were parked, and had a short drive home, much more convenient than flights involving Kennedy or LaGuardia. As I have said before, if you live on Long Island, NY, being able to fly on Southwest Airlines from ISP to MCO makes Port Canaveral a very convenient port to go on cruises from!

[PhillyRomantic]

Great review. I was also on this cruse at that time. Planning the same time next year!

 

 

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[mitsguy2001]

Great review. I was also on this cruse at that time. Planning the same time next year!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Glad you enjoyed my review! Glad that it sounds like you too enjoyed the cruise. Did you post a review?

[bpd528]

Thanks for posting, great info. We are planning the same cruise/WDW package, but in reverse, doing the cruise first, then going to Caribbean Beach for 5 nights. Did you review the CBR at any other site? What village were you in (Jamaica, Aruba,etc?). This will be our first cruise on the Dream, having completed 3 Magic and 1 Wonder cruise already. We also have done several other cruise lines in between.

 

Thanks again for the great review.

[mitsguy2001]

Thanks for posting, great info. We are planning the same cruise/WDW package, but in reverse, doing the cruise first, then going to Caribbean Beach for 5 nights. Did you review the CBR at any other site? What village were you in (Jamaica, Aruba,etc?). This will be our first cruise on the Dream, having completed 3 Magic and 1 Wonder cruise already. We also have done several other cruise lines in between.

 

Thanks again for the great review.

 

You're welcome. I did post a review of our Disney World trip, including the Caribbean Beach Resort, here (hopefully links are allowed):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3334443

 

We do very highly recommend the Caribbean Beach Resort. To answer your question, we stayed in Trinidad North. Since Caribbean Beach is a huge resort, and you will be doing a lot of walking, I very highly recommend that you have a room close to the main area (Old Port Royale), either Trinidad North or Martinique. There is an internal shuttle bus that goes to all of the villages and Old Port Royale, and the buses to the parks stop at every village and Old Port Royale, but it is more convenient to just have a short walk. You will be going to Old Port Royale a lot, since it has the restaurant, food court, gift shops, and the main pool. And it's where you board the bus to get to the Disney cruise.

 

Just to clarify: we did not book a land / sea package: we booked the two parts of the trip separately. According to my wife, it was cheaper that way. So you may want to look into that as an option.

 

Just out of curiosity, why are you doing the cruise before the Disney World trip? Most people do the reverse, since the Disney World part is much more tiring. Though, it's probably a matter of preference.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip. :)

[bpd528]

Thanks for the link, I'll go check it in a minute. We didn't book the land/sea package together either. Our 40th anniversary is on the first day of the cruise and we wanted to be on board but didn't want to be at WDW during Christmas/New Years, so the reverse. Our 4 other Disney cruises were the "traditional" way, plus being retired, we don't need to rest before returning to the real world.

 

We will be trying for either Jamica or Aruba at CBR since they've recently have been renovated. Anyway it'll be another great visit with the gang on the ship and at the World.

[mitsguy2001]

Thanks for the link, I'll go check it in a minute. We didn't book the land/sea package together either. Our 40th anniversary is on the first day of the cruise and we wanted to be on board but didn't want to be at WDW during Christmas/New Years, so the reverse. Our 4 other Disney cruises were the "traditional" way, plus being retired, we don't need to rest before returning to the real world.

 

We will be trying for either Jamica or Aruba at CBR since they've recently have been renovated. Anyway it'll be another great visit with the gang on the ship and at the World.

 

Did you read my review? Hope you enjoy your trip!

[robyn525600]

Thank you for this fantastic review! I'm going on the Dream in May and we have the same itinerary as you so your review was very helpful! :)

[Shmoo here]

Sunday, September 7, 2014 (Embarkation day at Port Canaveral, including detailed info about the ship)

 

...

I had heard many comments (including from the bus driver) that Cabanas is set up very differently than buffets on the older ships, and it more like a food court. I'm honestly not sure what the difference is. I assume they are referring to the fact that there are different stations, which change each day. But that was a similar setup to the buffet on the Carnival ships that we've been on recently. And, if my memory is correct, that was also how the buffet was set up on the Disney Wonder when I was on it in 2006. Although, given how long ago I was on the Wonder, it is very possible that I mis-remembered the buffet setup on the Wonder.

 

... Unlike the Carnival ships I've been on, the Disney Dream does not have a piano bar, although I felt that the District Lounge kind of served the purpose that the piano bar served. If I remember right, the Disney Wonder also has or had a piano bar.

 

...One final note: the deck plans showed a space called Outlook, on Deck 14 midship, above the Edge tween club, which so far, we had not found. The stairs on Deck 12 midship going up are marked only as going to Edge, so we did not use them. However, we did notice that one of the midship elevators goes up to Deck 14. By total chance we got that elevator when we called for an elevator going up, so we took it all the way up to Deck 14, out of curiosity. There was an entrance to radio studio (I assume it's not open to the public, so I did not attempt to enter), and what appered to be an emergency exit, but was really the entrance to Outlook. I am not sure what the intended purpose of Outlook is, maybe just a quiet space. There didn't seem to be activities scheduled for there, and I didn't see a bar or anything else in there. There was a piano which was not being used. I heard from one of our tablemates that it is used for weddings. Is that true? It's also interesting that as far as I could tell, it is accessible only by elevator, and not by stairs. Is that true? Or is there some way to access it by stairs? I assume it must have an emergency exit using stairs.

 

On the topic of elevators: one of the aft elevators goes to Deck 13; the others do not. I was never in that elevator going up, so I never pressed 13. Does it go to the sports deck? The deck plan does not show the elevators going up there. I was only on that deck once, and didn't notice if an elevator went up there. Does it go to the sports deck, or to somewhere else?

 

Also, we went up to Deck 12 Aft, an isolated area only accessible by the aft elevators and stairways, in order to explore. That is where Palo and Remy are located. We did eat at Palo back in 2006 on the Wonder, when it was only $10, a great deal! However, we do not see any purpose in paying $50 or $70 for Palo or Remy with the current price structure, so we did not go to either restaurant this time. Keep in mind that it is not just $50 or $70, but $50 or $70 plus the loss of a main dining room meal. Yes, I realize that in theory, you could eat at both the main dining room and Palo or Remy, but realistically, I can't eat that much! Since we enjoy the rotational main dining rooms very much, and we frequently go out to nice dinners on land usually for a lot less than $50 per person, we saw no point in booking Palo or Remy. But they do seem popular. This isolated area also had a bar called Meridian. This looked like a nice space and also had an outdoor area. My impression was that Meridian was mostly intended for people having a drink before or after dinner at Palo or Remy, or for cigar smoking. Given the isolated location, it's not an area that you'd pass by chance, and I don't recall seeing activities scheduled for it.

 

...

 

We just did the 9/14 4 night Dream cruise. I'm enjoying reading your review.

 

Just a couple of comments to questions you raised:

 

The buffet on the Wonder is still set up like a traditional buffet. You pick up your plate at the beginning and join a line traveling the length of the buffet. On the other 3 ships the buffet, while still basically set up with one long shelf for resting your plate on, has separate stations separated by plate holders. You can pick up a plate at any spot and just get food from there or skip a couple of areas and get food from 3 different spots.

 

RE: the piano bar. Yes the Wonder has a dedicated piano bar (Cadillac Lounge). Outlook was originally designed to be the piano bar. But, due to the logistics of actually finding it, it didn't do well. So it's now used for weddings and other special events. You can access it via the starboard midship center elevator, or by using the stairs from deck 12 (yes, it looks like it just goes to Edge, but the stairs just go by the entrance to Edge and continue up to deck 13, ending on the starboard side of the radio station hallway (left out of the elevator). They also use Outlook on the Fantasy for the religious services for cruises that run over Sunday.

 

I believe the deck 13 elevator stop is the sports deck.

 

Meridian is a bar that can be utilized by anyone wishing to smoke, have a drink while waiting for your Palo/Remy reservation, or just get a drink. We took the Art of the Theme Ship tour from there.

[mitsguy2001]

We just did the 9/14 4 night Dream cruise. I'm enjoying reading your review.

 

Just a couple of comments to questions you raised:

 

Thanks.

 

The buffet on the Wonder is still set up like a traditional buffet. You pick up your plate at the beginning and join a line traveling the length of the buffet. On the other 3 ships the buffet, while still basically set up with one long shelf for resting your plate on, has separate stations separated by plate holders. You can pick up a plate at any spot and just get food from there or skip a couple of areas and get food from 3 different spots.

 

I guess, as I said, I misremembered how the buffet on the Wonder was set up since it was so long ago. And, as I said, the buffet on the Dream was set up similar to the Carnival ships that I was on in recent years. The bus driver and some reviews have made it sound like the Dream buffet was something highly unusual, when it really is not.

 

RE: the piano bar. Yes the Wonder has a dedicated piano bar (Cadillac Lounge). Outlook was originally designed to be the piano bar. But, due to the logistics of actually finding it, it didn't do well.

 

Not surprising. I wonder why they didn't put the piano bar near the rest of the nighttime entertainment venues on Deck 4, and put it in a place that's almost impossible to find even if you know it exists.

 

So it's now used for weddings and other special events. You can access it via the starboard midship center elevator, or by using the stairs from deck 12 (yes, it looks like it just goes to Edge, but the stairs just go by the entrance to Edge and continue up to deck 13,

 

By marking the stairs as going to Edge, it gives adults the feeling we're not supposed to be there, since there are likely very strictly enforced rules about adults being in teenage areas. And if one gets caught, I suspect Disney would deal with it severely, and not accept the truth that you were just looking for Outlook. So, it's not worth risking it, unless you are 100% sure that you can legally get to Outlook that way, which you seem to have confirmed.

 

Why is none of this signed? If they wanted people to find Outlook during its piano bar days, they should have prominently signed it, both at the elevator on the stairs.

 

ending on the starboard side of the radio station hallway (left out of the elevator).

 

What is inside that radio station? Is the general public allowed in?

 

They also use Outlook on the Fantasy for the religious services for cruises that run over Sunday.

 

Do they have a Catholic Mass every Sunday on the Fantasy? If so, what time is it?

 

I believe the deck 13 elevator stop is the sports deck.

 

Makes sense. I wonder why it's not shown on the deck plan.

 

Meridian is a bar that can be utilized by anyone wishing to smoke, have a drink while waiting for your Palo/Remy reservation, or just get a drink. We took the Art of the Theme Ship tour from there.

 

Makes sense, but it's in a very out of the way location.

 

Thanks for answering my questions. :)

[Shmoo here]

Thanks.

 

 

 

...

What is inside that radio station? Is the general public allowed in? I don't know for sure, but I'll hazard a guess of "no".

 

 

 

Do they have a Catholic Mass every Sunday on the Fantasy? If so, what time is it? Sorry, don't know this one, either. I only know they have an Interdenominational Service on Sunday mornings. I have read that there has been Mass on some cruises, but I'm not sure whether it's guest driven or crew. ...

 

Thanks for answering my questions. :)

 

You're welcome. I'm still reading your review. We're just recently back from a major cruise/WDW trip and I'm still recovering :rolleyes:

[Shmoo here]

Tuesday, September 9, 2014 (Castaway Cay)

 

... We took the tram to the first main family beach area. If you have been to Castaway Cay years ago, the beach area has been expanded since then, to accommodate the larger number of people on the Dream and Fantasy. There seemed to be two tram stops: the first was for the children's area and near the first family beach area. The second, Pelican Point, was near the new family beach area, and was where you could transfer to the tram to Serenity Bay, the adult beach area. ...

 

I do know that a new facility at Castaway Cay is the Pellican Plunge water park. I don't know much about it and we did not see it at all. Are the slides mostly intended for children, or do adults go on them too? ... I thought that back in 2006, the same tram that went from the ship to the main beach area continued on to Serenity Bay. Did I remember wrong, or have things changed? The tram we got on turned around, and took us all the way back to the ship. We assumed that we could just stay on that tram, and it would turn around and take us all the way to Serenity Bay. But that was not the case; it just took us back to Pelican Point. We then had to transfer to another tram to get to Serenity Bay....

 

The first event of the night was a family comedy / ventriloquist show with Lynn Trefzger, in the Walt Disney Theater. Since we enjoyed her adult show last night, we also went to this family show! We enjoyed it a lot, and I liked the fact that it was a completely different show, rather than just a cleaned up version of the adult show. I definitely recommend seeing both of her shows, since they are completely different, and not redundant to each other at all!

 

Next was the Pirates In the Caribbean Deck Party, on Deck 11. Deck parties are always fun, no matter what cruise line! As expected, Disney did a great job with this deck party. Next was dinner. We were in Royal Palace again, and had the special Pirates in the Caribbean menu! I'm not sure why some people dislike the pirate menu; I felt that the food was comparable in quality to the other menus. ...

 

We were somewhat confused, since our server told us that the fireworks were immediately after dinner (perhaps due to rain?), but the Daily Navigator said they were at 10:30. After asking around, it seemed they were still at 10:30. ... I remember on the Wonder in 2006, Mickey was on a zipline between the two funnels. That did not happen on this cruise? Was that something that was eliminated sometime between 2006 and now? Or is that not possible on the Dream? ...

 

...

 

Pelican Plunge is a water slide. Well, actually two water slides (one open, one enclosed). They are located on a little raft/barge that you have to swim out to. It's for anyone who wants to do it. Little ones and ones with not very good swimming skills can use the life preservers available to assist getting to and from the slides and the beach. We did it, and I found I didn't like the enclosed one as much as the open one (it seemed to be faster). But fun.

 

Unless things changed from 2006, our first visit to CC was in 2008 and there was one tram (larger with 3 cars) that went from the ship to the family beach. At that point you had to transfer to the Serenity Bay tram (smaller with only 2 cars). Now there's the larger trams that do round trips from the ship/Scuttles Cover/Pelican Point/ship. And the smaller ones that go from Pelican Point to Serenity Bay and back.

 

We had Lynn Trefzger on our Fantasy B2Bs the next two weeks. We really enjoyed her shows.

 

I agree with you about the Pirate Menu, I enjoy it also.

 

Don't know why the server said "after dinner" unless he/she was referring to the fact it was after the second seating dinner. The Pirate show on the Wonder is one show after the second seating followed by the fireworks. This show is Captain Mickey and the Disney characters who are beset by the "bad guy" pirates (Capt Hook, et al). Mickey does zip line in at the end to save the day and start the fireworks. On the Dream (and Fantasy) there is one pirate show between the two dinner seatings that's more family friendly (Mickey and characters). Then a late show after the second dinner that's more Jack Sparrow and such type pirates (deemed less family friendly) followed by the fireworks. Since Mickey isn't in this show he can't "save the day". And, from what I've read, logistically they couldn't install a zipline due to the AquaDuck.

[mitsguy2001]

Pelican Plunge is a water slide. Well, actually two water slides (one open, one enclosed). They are located on a little raft/barge that you have to swim out to. It's for anyone who wants to do it. Little ones and ones with not very good swimming skills can use the life preservers available to assist getting to and from the slides and the beach. We did it, and I found I didn't like the enclosed one as much as the open one (it seemed to be faster). But fun.

 

If it's appropriate for adults, maybe I'll try it if I'm at CC again. Although, to be honest, I was more in the mood for relaxing that day.

 

Don't know why the server said "after dinner" unless he/she was referring to the fact it was after the second seating dinner. The Pirate show on the Wonder is one show after the second seating followed by the fireworks. This show is Captain Mickey and the Disney characters who are beset by the "bad guy" pirates (Capt Hook, et al). Mickey does zip line in at the end to save the day and start the fireworks. On the Dream (and Fantasy) there is one pirate show between the two dinner seatings that's more family friendly (Mickey and characters). Then a late show after the second dinner that's more Jack Sparrow and such type pirates (deemed less family friendly) followed by the fireworks. Since Mickey isn't in this show he can't "save the day". And, from what I've read, logistically they couldn't install a zipline due to the AquaDuck.

 

So I feel better now that I know the zipline wasn't skipped due to rain. I did have late dining. I'm guessing either our server was confused, or maybe she wanted to encourage us to get the best seats possible.

[mitsguy2001]

You're welcome. I'm still reading your review. We're just recently back from a major cruise/WDW trip and I'm still recovering :rolleyes:

 

Thanks. What do you think of my review?

 

As for Catholic Mass: I'm thinking that it probably happens if there happens to be a priest on-board, or maybe for major holidays like Christmas or Easter, but I doubt that Disney has a priest working full time that says Mass every week. Interestingly, on the Fantasy, when you board on Saturday too early for Mass to count, and have a sea day on Sunday, you are in a rare situation where you absolutely cannot go to Mass. I was in a similar situation o a Carnival cruise in 2011 that started on a Saturday and had a private island on Sunday. I also missed Mass in borderline situations on cruises in 2012 and 2013.

[PhillyRomantic]

Glad you enjoyed my review! Glad that it sounds like you too enjoyed the cruise. Did you post a review?

 

 

I did not post a review, but I posted pictures of the 1 bedroom cabin.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[JaniceB]

Thanks for doing a review of your cruise and a comparison to Carnival. I have sailed on the Carnival Dream and Breeze, looking forward to the Disney Fantasy.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoyed your review.

[mitsguy2001]

Thanks for doing a review of your cruise and a comparison to Carnival. I have sailed on the Carnival Dream and Breeze, looking forward to the Disney Fantasy.

 

Enjoyed your review.

 

Thank you!

[Zebbie1]

You had such a great review, I had to set-up an account on the site in order to post! We will be doing the same WDW/cruise plan next month. Question: do you think the cubbies by the Aquaduck are safe enough (and big enough) to store carry-ons? We have a 10:45 boarding time and were hoping to ride it before the lines starting getting long.

[mitsguy2001]

You had such a great review, I had to set-up an account on the site in order to post! We will be doing the same WDW/cruise plan next month. Question: do you think the cubbies by the Aquaduck are safe enough (and big enough) to store carry-ons? We have a 10:45 boarding time and were hoping to ride it before the lines starting getting long.

 

Thank you! Glad that you enjoyed my review! :)

 

If you are referring to carryon luggage then, unfortunately, the cubbies are not big enough to store a carryon bag. This thread shows a picture of the cubbies, so that you can get an idea as to how big they are:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=52467641

 

Depending on your party size, maybe you can take turns watching the luggage while somebody else gets in line for the Aquaduck.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise! Any other questions that I can help you with?