Disney Dream - Halloween on the High Seas - First Time Cruisers

[LuCruise]

Beautfiul children! Looks like am amazing family trip.

[LLM]

I am loving your review! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. I look forward to reading more!

 

Lisa

[davidmbfonz]

Sorry for disappearing for a bit. I'm back!

 

Our 4th (and really, final) day began with my daughter's 2nd Princess Meet-and-Greet in the Atrium. She was a bit more responsive this time, but I think it was just too early for her. She had been talking about these princesses forEVER, and had a really magnetic reaction to seeing Cinderella at the Magic Kingdom about 18 months prior. She got some good interaction, but it's just not the joyous expression we're used to (call us spoiled!).

 

You can see the line-up here... no more than a 5 minute wait. LOVE the ticket idea.

 

Disney Dream Cruise 2014 837 by davidmbfonz, on Flickr

 

 

And the lineup of the Princesses! (I had snuck away, unknown to my wife, to take video of the entire meet from that 3rd floor balcony... these shots were from the sneaky vantage point).

 

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Pro Shots:

 

DDR-141026-SnowWhite_6x8-13872527 by davidmbfonz, on Flickr

 

 

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Edited February 23, 2015 by davidmbfonz

[davidmbfonz]

After breakfast, we headed to Castaway Beach - we're creatures of habit, so we were intent on going back to the 2nd Family Beach, right near, you guessed it, Pelican Plunge.

 

Can't get enough of that water, and the view of the ship!

 

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Took at picture of our stateroom once we stepped off the ship - not sure if Deck 9 is the very top row of oval windows, or the next one down?

 

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We stopped at the Post Office, right off the ship, to meet Olaf and Stitch.

 

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We rented an inner tube today - lots of fun to splash around with!

 

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[davidmbfonz]

Some shots of Pelican Plunge and the 2nd Family Beach on this 2nd day:

 

I absolutely loved that you had to 'work' to get out to this slide... you really had to swim or else you couldn't go on it. My sons chose to ride on my back, but just for fun, I did push them off once or twice. And, be warned: the dark slide is scary!

 

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One of my best moments on this cruise/vacation/adventure (out of many, many!) was when I was waiting at the top of the slide on Pelican Plunge and the dad next to me was looking out at the ship and I said to him, "If you could dream up a perfect family vacation..." and he finished my sentence with "... this is it!" Awesome moment. And very true.

 

 

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Lunchtime!

 

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Very happy boy!

 

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Soft serve after EVERY meal? ;-)

 

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[LuCruise]

Amazing photos! Bet your DD loves meeting all the princesses.

I will say that I'll miss not stopping at Castaway Cay on our RCL cruise. It's great how they provide all different floats and rafts plus the waterslides.

[jwalk03]

Loving the review. I am a huge Halloween fan, and go all out at home with decorations, strobes, fog machines, etc. I have a cruise booked for this October on the Disney Wonder, and really cant wait to see some Disney Halloween decoarations on board.

 

The one thing I am a little sad about though, is that its a cruise from San Diego to Mexico, so no Castaway Cay stop. Castaway Cay was the highlight of our last cruise on the Disney Dream, it is just an absolutely wonderful place full of that Disney Magic that makes the extra expense totally worth it!

[davidmbfonz]

Agree - jwalk! 100%

 

A San Diego cruise? Is that one of the Pixar ones? Those looked awesome.

 

You'll love the decorations - they're not over the top, but are definitely there. Was an added bonus!

 

Thanks too, LuCruise for the nice words!

[jwalk03]

Agree - jwalk! 100%

 

A San Diego cruise? Is that one of the Pixar ones? Those looked awesome.

 

You'll love the decorations - they're not over the top, but are definitely there. Was an added bonus!

 

Thanks too, LuCruise for the nice words!

 

I think the Pixar pals ones were just Alaska ones. This year Disney is doing 3 or 4 cruises from San Diego to Ensenda & Cabo, before the Wonder does the Panama Canal trip back east to sail its limited run from Galveston. My brother in law is stationed in San Diego and we had been wanted to plan a trip to go visit him, and when i saw these limited SD cruises released it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to do both in one trip. Not really that excited about Cabo & Ensenada so much, but cant wait for another Disney Cruise experience. I have also never been to California before so thats an added bonus as well.

[davidmbfonz]

After lunch, the princess took a little nap in the wagon - they have these wagons that you can use (and as far as I could tell - they were freely available). We covered her with a towel and headed off to the Stingray Adventure.

 

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This is located in an area to the 'left' (if you're facing the water) of the 1st family beach.

 

 

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There was an educational presentation orienting us to the stingrays. Spoiler alert - all of these stingrays have had their stingers removed AND they're all ladies (a couple of them were pregnant).

 

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We had pre-booked this 'excursion' for my wife and my two sons. I knew I'd need to stay with our daughter and also take pictures.

 

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Getting ready!

 

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After the initial feeding, you could have the rest of the hour to swim with and pet the stingrays.

 

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[davidmbfonz]

If you look closely at the last picture in my last post, you can see the look on my younger son's face. Those were his last moments in the water. Both of my boys, unfortunately, got really freaked out by the stingrays. They love the water, and have spent days and days in the Atlantic surf up and down the East Coast. We swim every day all summer long. I can't explain what set them off.

 

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I mean, these were magnificent, even beautiful creatures who were quite friendly (and harmless!).

 

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Here's my oldest son trying to give it the ol' college try... I felt bad strongly urging him to continue, but didn't want him to miss out on this in case it 'caught on' with him. It didn't.

 

Disney Dream Cruise 2014 1134 by davidmbfonz, on Flickr

 

The cast members were good with letting me wade in a bit and I even pet a few of the stingrays. We took about 15 more minutes of photos and video, my wife had her fill, and then we moved on to the next activity. A rare 'bum note' in this vacation, and certainly not Disney's fault. You can't plan everything perfectly with three young kids. We'll try again in a couple of years.

 

On a personal note, the stingray adventure is really what first got me intrigued by a family cruise several years ago. There was a commercial that played with some catchy music ("Lust for Life"?) and I think it was for a different cruise line. Something about seeing the family feeding and swimming with stingrays caught me as so cool and the perfect amount of "adventure" that I had near-iconic hopes for this. In the end, I'm ok that it didn't work out perfectly! My wife thought it was really cool!

[davidmbfonz]

After two near-full days at Castaway, we knew we had been spoiled. The weather had been perfect both days - climbed into the low-80s and we even got a little pink (in late October!).

 

We played on the hammocks a bit and headed back to the ship around 4 PM.

 

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This is what boys do - no such thing as relaxing in a hammock! Heaven forbid!

 

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Chip and Dale were waiting for us as we boarded the ship!

 

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Love those guys!

 

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[davidmbfonz]

I headed up to the top deck (Deck 12?) and took pictures as the ship set sail.

 

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Here's an attempt at a panoramic shot of the whole island:

 

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The engines really kicked up the water!

 

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The very aft of the Disney Dream, with Castaway Cay receding in the distance:

 

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Grabbed a shot of the drink station on my way back to the room. Did NOT want to forget that pomegranate lemonade. I'm pretty sure this taste is part of every memory on that ship (and actually, I think it's familiar from the restaurants at WDW too). Anyone know where you can get this flavor of MinuteMaid? Or, is it exclusive to Disney?

 

Disney Dream Cruise 2014 1288 by davidmbfonz, on Flickr

[davidmbfonz]

Towel animals from our last night:

 

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Our last dinner was in the Enchanted Garden. It really did have a feel to it like you were outside.

 

I think this was the Cream of Green Asparagus: (?)

 

Disney Dream Cruise 2014 1308 by davidmbfonz, on Flickr

 

I HAD to try that wedge of lettuce!

 

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My wife's entree:

 

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Prime rib for me!

 

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[davidmbfonz]

If I'm not mistaken, that entree my wife had was lobster ravioli that she ordered from another dining room's menu. The servers were happy to get it for her.

 

Dessert was yummy, of course!

 

We learned all about the 'sweet nothings':

 

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Had to get this apple cobbler sundae on our last night!

 

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Informal family shots on 'formal' night. My boys just wore their school uniforms.

 

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Later that night (say, around 11:30 PM), we made our 2nd room service order:

 

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After a more-than-full day that included a sitdown breakfast, a princess meet-and-greet, day at the Castaway Cay beach and stingray adventure, a show ("Believe" or "Golden Mickeys" - can't remember the order - both were stunning), and a full sit-down dinner, what did my boys want to do?

 

We went to a midnight showing/premiere of "Alexander and the Terrible Day..." in the theater. That was beyond icing on the cake! That movie theater is state-of-the-art and just perfect. What a way to end our vacation!

[davidmbfonz]

Once the boys were in bed, a bit after 1 AM, I took 20 minutes by myself to go get some final night shots of the ship.

 

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Probably my favorite shot: (it's the silly things, no?)

 

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[davidmbfonz]

Since we had 2nd Seating, we also had the later breakfast assignment. While I was watching a movie with the boys the night before, my wife had finalized our packing.

 

We solemnly headed down to Enchanted Garden for our last delicious breakfast.

 

Just like in the pictures!

 

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Very elaborate theming if you ask me!

 

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We were SO not looking forward to gathering our luggage and heading home. How nice to see that even the luggage area of the terminal had a thoughtful design.

 

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(The Home Depot box is what we brought all our fish extender gifts to/from in) - we had joined 3 groups!

 

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And our luggage porter couldn't have been any kinder or more helpful. He put our luggage on his cart and waited in the customs line with us. Then he loaded up our minivan! He was so pleasant and seemed happy for us. In a happy daze, we headed out of the parking garage and back to reality!

Edited February 24, 2015 by davidmbfonz

[Kiwis Afloat]

Thank you so much again. I have loved reading your review. Your photos are great. :)

[Deely]

Love room service pizza lol!!!

 

Was that Port Canaveral that you disembarked? If so, last Sept I was very sternly told to stop taking photographs for security which put a bit of a downer for our last memories.

[davidmbfonz]

Aw, Deely - sorry to hear that. Yes, it was Port Canaveral, but I took these photos with my iPhone. Didn't think about the security angle, but it would be easier to take photos with your smartphone quickly without people realizing it. Glad I got them, because I really like those paintings/murals.

[jwalk03]

Aw, Deely - sorry to hear that. Yes, it was Port Canaveral, but I took these photos with my iPhone. Didn't think about the security angle, but it would be easier to take photos with your smartphone quickly without people realizing it. Glad I got them, because I really like those paintings/murals.

 

I actually got yelled at last year at Pt. Canaveral after our Dream cruise for using my IPhone in the terminal while waiting to go through customs. (Not while actually even close to a customs person mind you, but whatever floats their boats.)

[Ex techie]

I actually got yelled at last year at Pt. Canaveral after our Dream cruise for using my IPhone in the terminal while waiting to go through customs. (Not while actually even close to a customs person mind you, but whatever floats their boats.)

 

I always find it easiest to follow the direction of the signs that say no photographs, no using cell phones, no smoking when going through customs or other government agency controlled areas. :)

 

ex techie

[davidmbfonz]

To be clear, I only took a few pictures of the luggage stand area which is far from the customs line... this was what I would call the baggage claim area, not the customs area.

 

I should also add that I was a bit disappointed that the customs officer didn't even really look at our passports, and certainly didn't stamp them. Would have been nice. He was super friendly, but wasn't that concerned with us.

Edited February 25, 2015 by davidmbfonz

[Ex techie]

To be clear, I only took a few pictures of the luggage stand area which is far from the customs line... this was what I would call the baggage claim area, not the customs area.

 

I should also add that I was a bit disappointed that the customs officer didn't even really look at our passports, and certainly didn't stamp them. Would have been nice. He was super friendly, but wasn't that concerned with us.

 

I chose to not mess with the TSA or Customs guys and just follow what they tell me to do for an easy life! YMMV!

 

When reentering a country of origin and citizenship, they do not stamp your passport. Thats when you visit a foreign country?

And if you and your family were of any interest to the authorities, you wouldn't have gotten as far as the luggage racks! lol!

 

ex techie

[davidmbfonz]

I've got re-entry stamps from the U.S. on my passport from previous trips abroad. Maybe closed-circuit cruises are different. ;)