Disney Dream Review - 3 Nt Bahamas Sept 28 - HOHS - w/8 mo Old

[ttfd11]

This was my DW and I's 11th cruise, third cruise with Disney and second cruise on the Dream. We have been on Disney, RCL, Princess and Carnival in the past. This was going to be the first cruise for our 8 month old boy. After following the forums for some time, I felt it was time to pass on our experience especially when it comes to the Halloween on the high Seas activities and the 8 month old.

 

Pre Cruise

 

We drove to Florida from the Midwest and arrived Friday afternoon in Orlando. We spent 3 nights at the Port Orleans - French Quarter and enjoyed it very much. We spent the days resort hopping several of the Disney resorts and just enjoying ourselves at the hotel. Our intention with the baby was to not have a fixed schedule and attempt to see some areas of Disney we do not normally see when we usually visit the parks. We are big Disney fans but knew it didn't make a lot of sense to visit the parks this time around. In addition to the resorts we visited, we took in Disney Springs and the Boardwalk. Disney Springs was very busy when we visited and we enjoyed the Boardwalk more as it was much more relaxing.

 

Embarkation

 

We drove from Orlando, while the baby took a nap, and arrived to the port about 12:30pm. We dropped our two bags and parked in the garage. My DW gave the baby a quick fill up on food and I put him on me in a ergo carrier which was very useful the entire trip. We had used this many times in the past and he was very familiar with this carrier and comfortable in it. We actually had decided not to even bring a stroller with us due to the small spaces, etc and it proved to be the best idea we had. We walked through the parking garage entry into security and check-in and was able to wear the baby the entire time. We initially got in line to get a picture with Mickey in the terminal but after a few minutes I convinced my DW that it wasn't worth the time (at least 30 mins) and promised we would get some pictures during the cruise.

 

We went ahead and boarded the ship and the attempt was made to usher us to the buffet at Cabanas but I asked if we could go to the Royal Palace instead and they pointed us down the stairs without issue. The Royal Palace had a smaller buffet but everything we needed. We had a booth and put the baby in a booster seat which worked well. I should add that this trip was the first time we used boosters or high chairs with the baby as normally he can keep himself occupied in the car seat for most of a restaurant meal. We quickly ate and made our way to the aft elevators, which were not busy at all, and up to our room. We had an aft balcony room on the 8th floor. I had booked the room 7 months prior and the price for this room over our usual standard interior rooms was negligible. We also felt the huge balcony would allow us to have some freedom during naps and bedtime with the baby. The room was great and I quickly setup the pack-n-play that had been placed in the room for us (as well as a diaper genie) and let the baby crawl around while we explored and unpacked some of our carry-ons. The balcony was just as big as the room itself and provided plenty of shade or sun the entire trip.

 

We checked to see if the baby needed another nap (usually takes 2 or 3 a day) but he seemed fine and we went to explore the ship until the muster drill. Since we had been on the ship before with some friends we spent most of the time reminiscing about funny things that happened in the areas we passed by and eventually the baby fell asleep in the carrier for a short time. After some Eye Scream it was off to the muster drill. I was worried that the baby might be a noise maker during this but was pleasantly surprised when he stayed quiet and flirted with the other people in the room with smiles. It was quickly over and we went back to the room for some baby food and sail away. We wanted to experience the sail away from the back of the ship and it was a very relaxing way to start off the trip. We took several pictures and family selfies as we left port. By this time our bags had arrived and we did some light unpacking but due to the short length of this cruise we kept most of the things within the two suitcases under the bed and slid them out when we needed things which worked well.

 

After some more relaxing we headed to the character meets before dinner. Once again, the line that had already formed led us to explore the ship instead of standing in line. During the walk we decided that for the next day's character meet with Mickey we would arrive very early as this is really the only picture we thought we had to have. We then headed to dinner in the Enchanted Garden. We had first seating at 5:45pm. I had scoped out our table number in the Royal Palace at lunch time and noticed we were at a table for 6. My hesitation for the whole trip revolved around dinner time and if the baby would be able to tolerate the dining room without creating a scene. I was also very nervous about whom our table mates would be and if they would welcome our 8 month old or not. But as usual, the cruise lines do a great job matching you up with other guests and we were pleasantly surprised to arrive and find a couple sitting at the table with a 1 year old. As we sat down with our baby the look of relief on their faces told me they had the same concerns we did. It ended up being a great match and we enjoyed the dinners very much with them. The baby spent most of the time trying to understand the new high chair he was in and taking in all the people and lights around him. He also did fine with feedings of baby food during this time. We also requested fruit, mashed potatoes, apple sauce and sweet potatoes throughout the three nights for the baby to try and the servers were great with these requests. The diner was good and I always enjoy dessert more. :) We had no plans to see the shows this time around as we had seen them once or twice before. We headed back to the room and spent a few minutes on the balcony watching the ocean go by. We did smell the exhaust from the ship most nights so this was slightly disappointing but expected. The baby usually goes to bed between 9 and 10 but he was fading fast today so we were all asleep by 9:15pm.

 

Around midnight my DW and I woke up to the room shaking violently and were not sure what was going on. We laid there for a while discussing what it could be and eventually I left the room to see if the rest of the ship was this way. The back of the ship had some shaking and the rest of the boat seemed pretty normal. I returned to the room with not much information and we tried to go back to sleep. For the next 4-5 hours we woke up a lot to the continued shaking and the baby woke up a few times as well.

 

Nassau

 

We woke around 8:30am and eventually made it to one of the dining rooms for breakfast around 9:30am. Once again it is a smaller buffet than Cabanas but easier to get around. We actually never ate in Cabanas this cruise. After breakfast we came back to the room and fed the baby his food. Without a high chair for feeding we would just place him on the couch and he did fairly well staying still until he was finished. The DW had a day pass to the spa and she left for some alone time while the baby and I went to get more Eye Scream. This time, in addition to the Chocolate or Vanilla, they had Strawberry and Banana which were very good. I wondered around the ship people watching and exploring the adult areas of the ship hoping no one would notice the little guy attached to me. He eventually fell asleep and we went back to the room for some more sleep. The DW and I used the Disney Cruise app a lot when we were not together taking advantage of the text messaging feature. This was so much more convenient than the Wave phones, which we never used. I sometimes also used the app to look at event times, etc and found it helpful with that as well. Eventually the wife came back with pizza from Luigi's Pizza (which didn't seem as good as our last cruise) and we ate it out on the deck while the baby still slept. We discussed going to Nemo's Reef with the baby but the several times we passed by it seemed to be a madhouse of 5-10 year olds and not safe for our baby to play in.

 

Once he finally woke up after 2 hours we slowly got ready for the Halloween on the High Seas Mickey's Mousequerade Party! There were two schedule times, one mid afternoon that we attended and one right before the first dinner seating. My DW had been excited about this from the point we received the email from Disney two months prior. She had purchased The Incredible's T-shirts for us and the Jack-Jack outfit for the baby. It was a perfect costume for him as it wasn't any different to him then wearing his regular clothes. Many other children and some adults were dressed up for the occasion as well. We headed down the Atrium to the dance party that was just starting and did some trick or treating around the areas of guest services, shutters, and the coffee bar with the Trick or Treat bag that had been left in our room that morning. We then decided to stand in a small line that had already started on the balcony for the Mickey Mouse character meet while we watched the dance party and danced around with the little one. It also turned out to be a good spot to watch when the characters came out onto the dance floor as well. Once the party stopped the character meet started and we waited about 10 minutes for our pictures with Mickey which turned out great. Since it was the Halloween dance party Mickey was dressed in his costume with a top hat and cape. We then went back to our room happy to have our family picture with Mickey Mouse and watched the sail away from Nassau. We also took some good selfies with Atlantis behind us.

 

 

While the DW and the baby stayed in the room for more baby food and playing, I headed up to the adult pool area. I had never used this area on the previous trips so I wanted to check it out. The pool area really wasn't all that great. The pool itself consists of an area with 2 inches of water around the bar, a big circle area that is over 5 feet deep and hard to relax in because of its depth and a smaller sitting area that was occupied with a few people so no room for me. I tried to float around the pool but it just wasn't any good due to the depth. I decided to try the hot tubs, which are usually my favorite part of the cruise, but not this time. There are only a couple spots to sit down and with the few people that were in them not willing to move I stood along the edge and looked out the window. My mind went back to how much I had enjoyed the adult area on the Allure of the Seas the previous year and I decided this wasn't going to do it for me and headed back to the room.

 

With no second nap for the baby yet we headed to dinner at Animator's Palate. It was another good time with our new friends and the baby did almost as well as the first night but was slightly more agitated probably from no second nap yet. During the meal the head waiter came over and talked to us. He made a comment about good thing we didn't eat there the night before as the room was shaking from an issue with the propeller. We keyed in on this comment and tried to ask some more questions thinking it had to have had something to do with our issues the previous night. It was hard to understand with his accent and the fact that Crush was in full swing on the screens but we think we heard him say the propeller was coming out of the water, whatever that means. Our dinner companions also used the It's a Small World Nursery that evening after dinner for several hours for their little one. The next night they told us it went really well and besides the fact that it was hard to leave their little one with someone else, the staff and nursery experience went very well. The staff updated them frequently by text message to keep them informed on his progress.

 

After dinner my DW went back to the spa for a short while and I sat on the balcony in the Atrium with the baby who went quickly to sleep to the sounds of the instrumental Disney music. This was also Pirates in the Caribbean night so the people watching was very interesting as there was a cross from people still dressed in Halloween costumes and those dressed as Pirates. The baby eventually woke up and we met up with DW and hit the grill for some late night snacks. Since the baby had a late nap we knew that he would probably stay awake for the Fireworks at 10:30pm so we spent the hour prior walking the top of the ship as it was a perfect evening weather wise. Eventually the pirate party started but we took up some seats on the balcony overlooking the adult’s area and waited for the Fireworks while listening to the show. The fireworks start soon after and we got some great pictures of the baby looking up at the fireworks, his first time. After this it was off to bed and the baby was very ready for this.

 

Around midnight as the DW and I were just drifting off to sleep, it started again. The room shaking. This time not anywhere close to the night before but noticeable almost like the sounds when you go into port. My wife decided to call Guest Services as they had stated to call them if it happens again. They proceeded to explain that we were traveling "super-fast" so the ship may rock some. My DW even asked if we were going into Port and the response was not until morning. We knew there was no reason to go fast as Castaway Cay is not very far from Nassau. They did offer us another room to sleep in closer to mid ship and we decided to wait it out some before making this change. It really wasn't that bad but we were a little annoyed as it was the second night of this. But soon after making the phone call it stopped. Actually everything stopped. It sounded like the main engines were shut down and was very quiet, almost too quiet. So I finally decided to go out on the balcony and take a look. I was quite surprised to find that we were docked at Castaway Cay! I had no idea they would do this at 12:30am but it was nice to see that a good night’s sleep was ahead of us. My DW called Guest Services back and said we wouldn't need the other room since it was just the fact that we were docking in Castaway. Guest Services seemed completely unaware we were there and even corrected my wife that we were still at sea but eventually they realized we were right. It was a good night’s sleep after that.

 

Castaway Cay

 

We woke around 9am and did the breakfast in the dining room again. We stayed on the ship and the baby took a nap until close to noon. We then made our way off the ship about 12:30pm just when a rainstorm hit and we wondered if this was going to be the end of our visit. There were also a lot of people coming back onto the ship with some tired looking children. We rode the tram all by ourselves to the second stop and headed for the beach area just before the private cabanans. Since we were not sailing on a full ship and the fact that many people already went back to the ship we had a nice area by ourselves and were able to get some chairs with an umbrella without issue. During the tram ride the rains ended and soon after the skies were nice and sunny. We hit the water with the baby as the air was pretty warm and he enjoys the water and enjoys splashing around. The DW went to get a plate a food for us before they closed at 2pm. We spent the next few hours enjoying the water, food, ice cream, and some non-alcoholic Konk Koolers - delicious! Around 3pm we slowly headed back to the ship while taking some pictures along the way and dropping some post cards at the post office. It was a great afternoon enjoying the private island, great weather, and watching the baby experience the water.

 

We spent the next few hours before dinner watching from our balcony, taking some family selfies with Castaway Cay and watching the sail away. We then headed to dinner at the Royal Palace for our final meal with our new friends. Once again a great time and it was sad to see this end as this signaled that the cruise was coming to an end as well. We took some group pictures and made our way back to the room to pack our bags. On our way we stopped by the Atrium for a few minutes while the Halloween Ceremony was going on at the Pumpkin Tree. There was some singing and dancing again and the tree itself was coming to life with lights and sounds. This and the Halloween dance party the day before was the extent of the Halloween on the High Seas that I saw. The only other one I saw about in the Navigator was an 11pm Halloween Story Telling up on the pool deck that we did not attend and some Halloween themed movies in the Buena Vista Theatre. After some light bag packing and placing them outside the door we took our traditional last night of the cruise walk around the ship before bedtime. Apparently earlier in the day (we missed it) the captain made an in cabin announcement about the possibility for some rough seas. This never materialized and everything was just fine and no room shaking either. :)

 

Debarkation

 

At 7:30 we were awaken by the in cabin announcement that the shipped was cleared by customs and we can start leaving the ship. We had not planned to do breakfast on the ship as early mornings are not our favorite things. So we got things going and the baby woke up in a happy mood. We left the room close to 8am and proceeded off the ship. We found our bags easily and stood in line for Customs for about 20 minutes. The baby had his own passport and the three of us quickly made it past the customs officer and headed for the parking garage. We were quickly leaving the port and on our way to visit with family in northern Florida.

 

Overall we had a great trip and actually wished we had more time on the ship and less time in Orlando as the ship made it much easier with the baby. We were always close to the room for any baby needs and had lots of amenities close by as well. Since we had been on the ship before we didn't feel the need to go to all of the events or shows and this provided for some good unplanned relaxation time. The Halloween on the High Seas was a good add in and we enjoyed doing some first Halloween activities with the baby. If you didn't care about HOHS it was no issue ignoring the few events that were happening and you would probably never know it was going on. For those wondering if you should do a cruise with a young child I hope this provided some perspective and ways to go about it. I wouldn't hesitate to do this again and we are already talking about when our next cruise will be.

 

Thanks for reading and if you have any specific questions I can help with feel free to comment.

[CC Help Jenn]

You can text via the app now? I wasn't aware of that feature last August and walked around with my cell phone and the wave phone! That will be so useful