Disney Dream Nov 12-15 Live Review

[Stealthdog]

First time Disney cruiser.  Originally we were doing a transatlantic from Rome to Miami on Norwegian, but wanted to play it safer with a shorter cruise from US port.  We have been on about 5 Norwegian, 5 Celebrity, and 1 Royal cruise.  We normally do a live review and post things like dailys and menus and check on things people may have questions.

 

My partner and I left DC early afternoon yesterday, stopped in Savannah GA for the night, and continued on to Orlando this morning.  We will leave for the port around 1030 tomorrow.

 

Will start giving updates when we get to port tomorrow.   If anyone has any questions or wants a photo of anything on the ship, feel free to let me know.  

[raspberry ridge]

On 11/11/2021 at 5:58 PM, Stealthdog said:

First time Disney cruiser.  Originally we were doing a transatlantic from Rome to Miami on Norwegian, but wanted to play it safer with a shorter cruise from US port.  We have been on about 5 Norwegian, 5 Celebrity, and 1 Royal cruise.  We normally do a live review and post things like dailys and menus and check on things people may have questions.

 

My partner and I left DC early afternoon yesterday, stopped in Savannah GA for the night, and continued on to Orlando this morning.  We will leave for the port around 1030 tomorrow.

 

Will start giving updates when we get to port tomorrow.   If anyone has any questions or wants a photo of anything on the ship, feel free to let me know.  

Any information about entertainment would be appreciated.We will be on board soon.Thanks and hope you are having a lovely voyage.

[Stealthdog]

I overestimated the quality of the wifi on board - ill start posting and downloading photos.  Sorry couldnt update daily.  I tried the 50 free MG and couldnt even get the cruisecritic page opened, so didnt pay for any additional internet because of how slow and long it took.

[Stealthdog]

Arriving at the port.  The embarkartion was a little bit of a hot mess.  We got our boarding time but it wasnt well communicated that the covid testing and wait time was 45 min - 1 hour before you can proceed to normal boarding area.  Noone asked us our boarding time and it seemed like it was a free for all with people showing up whenever they wanted.

 

We drove to the port and parked in the garage.  When you arrive, you will remain in your car to complete the nostril swabs for the covid testing.  After complete you have to stay in the garage until you get an all clear from the safe passage website.  The problem is areas of the garage had no internet service, so we had to walk around until we found a spot where we had a couple of bars to keep checking safe passage.

 

Once we got the safe to board, it was really quick getting on.  But we didnt really board until about 1.5 hours after our boarding time.  If we did it again, would definately get their early knowing the wait time for testing was so long.  Would recommend getting to the port one hour before your scheduled boarding time.

[Stealthdog]

Welcome aboard receiving line.  Was really fun - they introduce each family and Mickey and Minnie welcome you aboard.

 

We always start our cruises with mimosas, so after getting our room keys we proceeded to the adult area outdoor bar to have our welcome aboard drink.  

[Stealthdog]

Menus for the 3 dining rooms for dinner.  We rotated through all 3.  Interesting concept of servers move with you to the different restaurants and you keep the same table number for all your dinner meals.

 

The service was great - definately the type of service you would expect on Disney.  Servers only have 2 tables, so are very attentive, maybe too much.  They kept bringing things I didnt ask for, but that was ok.

 

I was disappointed with the food itself.  It was better than main dining on some cruise lines, but definately below Celebrity MDR quality or NCL specialty dining.

[Stealthdog]

On 11/13/2021 at 5:19 PM, raspberry ridge said:

Any information about entertainment would be appreciated.We will be on board soon.Thanks and hope you are having a lovely voyage.

 

Lots of entertainment options.  They have the typical options of bingo and trivia (some trivia was family some adult only).  Only one production on the 3 nights - 1st and 3rd nights they had Beauty and the Beast.  2nd night they do fireworks, which was nice.  They have a pianist and violinist on board.  Both were nice, but the violinist was really talented.  Karaoke every night, but we only did the 3rd night because it was adult only - the first 2 nights were family karaoke.  They show the newest disney movies in the theater.  

 

Ill post one evening of events.  Disney doesnt provide paper dailys anymore, which was really frustrating.  Everything was app based and you cant really see everything at once like the paper versions.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

[Stealthdog]

Fireworks display on 2nd night.  They do two showings and you are assigned one (probably based on your dining time).  It lasted about 5 minutes, but it was nice.  Two options were to watch from the pool deck level on 11 or above it on a higher level.

[Stealthdog]

Nassau day.  Nice views of Atlantis and Baha Mar from the ship.  We didnt leave then ship at Nassau - we have been to Paradise Island twice and not really much to see at the Nassau port.  We did brunch at Remy instead - will post menu separate.

[Stealthdog]

Norwegian Escape and Royal Independence of the Sea also in port at Canaveral.  Make sure to be on deck for every days departure - the horns play 6-7 disney tunes when leaving port.

[Stealthdog]

Ship (and Castaway Cay) already decorated for Christmas, which seemed really weird since Thanksgiving is next week.  The ship had crew members as carolers on deck 3 which was fun.

[Stealthdog]

Castaway Cay was better than the other private islands we have been on.  Tons of things to do - separate adult only beach area, family beach area, and snorkling area.

 

We rented the snorkling gear for $34/adult.  The snorkling area was ok for fish, but swimming to the buoys to see the underwater statues and other underwater items was fun.  Took about 1 hour to do all the buoys.

 

The slides were also fun.  Two slides next to each other - one inside in the dark and one partially outside.  

 

There is a 5k route mapped for people who want to run, walk, or bike it.  I think the bicycle rentals were a little less than $20.  

 

We did the outdoor BBQ in the adult area.  Alot of variety of food and outdoor seating under umbrellas.  Dont get the steak unless you like yours well done.  They had hotdog, hamburger, chicken, salmon, and ribs, plus tons of sides as well.

 

Overall, i think there were 2-3 bars on the island and you can charge drinks and rental equipment to your roo.

 

The beaches were all well maintained and the chairs are complimentary.  You can get towels off the ship.  They have volleyball and soccer, but i didnt see anyone using it.  A tram takes you from the ship to the areas on the island, or you can walk it - the distances are not that long.

 

They have family cabanas for rent, but we didnt look at them and i didnt note the cost.

 

We spent almost the whole day on the island.

[Stealthdog]

Fun towel animals every night in the cabin.  We stayed on a balcony on the 10th deck.  The views are a little obstructed for pictures with overhang from the 11th deck.  We ended up going to the pool deck to take our photos instead. It was a little noisy early morning (i think we were below the buffet restaurant).

 

The room was big enough for two, but having more would have felt cramped.  Balconys have couch that can be pulled out as a second bed. 

 

The two bathrooms are a little strange.  One had a tub with a shower head and sink.  The second has a toilet and another sink.  With just the two of us, it was a little wasted space and we never used the 2nd sink.  Would have prefered a stand alone shower rather than having to step into a tub, but i can definately see how the two sinks work for others and having a tub may be better for little children.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

They have the usual lounges for various games and events.  I think the picture here was the married couples game.

 

The District is a nice area for adult only entertainment and bars.  This was the first cruise ive been on without an alcohol package so was defintately different.  Each of the bars had Happy Hour times when certain drinks are 30-50% off.  The pricing was really good value especially with happy hour.  It felt the prices were lower than other cruise lines.

 

Throughout the evening there are different acitivies in the bars.  The Pub has a few different tvs that showed football and soccer games for those who want to keep up.  I dont know if the NFL or college football games were set or if you can request a channel change.

[Stealthdog]

Luggage instructions for departure was also confusing because of no paper dailys (I think Disney called them Navigators).  We are used to getting instructions in the stateroom that detail when luggage needs to be outside your stateroom and gives timelines for all the departure groups.  Instead there is a little information on the app and there was a recording on the tv chanel that gave instructions.  We never turned our TV on, so didnt really know what we needed to do or what our time slot was to get off the ship.  

 

I assume the elimination of the paper dailys is for cost savings, but i found the onship app to be very lacking and have less informations than the paper dailys normally have.

 

Getting off the ship ended up really easy.  Because we parked and didnt have a flight, we ate breakfast and left the ship when we wanted (since we didnt know what our window was anyways).  You will scan your room card first then go through passport control.  It was about 15 minutes from the time we left the ship to getting to the car in the garage.

[Stealthdog]

If anyone has any general or specific questions, feel free to ask.  We had a great time and hope everyone sailing soon enjoy their cruises!

[fla gang]

Did they still blow the horn at sail away?

[Rsrcruise]

Just want to thank you for a very succinct review!  Disney is definitely on my bucket list, and you answered so many questions that I had in mind.  I’ve only done RCL Cruises in the early 2000s, and pretty much spent most of my time at windjammer or MDR.  How do you think the food on Disney compares to this?

[gotscrapz]

Thanks for the quick review. I never sailed Disney yet, but I want to!

I hope you too had a blast ❤️

[Stealthdog]

On 11/19/2021 at 5:55 AM, fla gang said:

Did they still blow the horn at sail away?

 

Yes - they actually blew the sounds of 6-8 different songs when leaving ports.  It was nice being on deck for it.

[Stealthdog]

On 11/26/2021 at 9:52 PM, Rsrcruise said:

Just want to thank you for a very succinct review!  Disney is definitely on my bucket list, and you answered so many questions that I had in mind.  I’ve only done RCL Cruises in the early 2000s, and pretty much spent most of my time at windjammer or MDR.  How do you think the food on Disney compares to this?

 

We did the Independence of the Sea about 6-7 years ago.  I only did the MDR on that ship (we didnt go to the buffet).  The MDR on Disney was better, but it really didnt wow me.  For us, they just had a really hard time with temperatures of steaks. When we sent them back, they always came out better the 2nd time.  Some of the other foods just had boring flavors.

 

We did the Remy brunch on the Dream and it was fantastic - definately among the best dining we have had on a cruise ship.

Edited November 28, 2021 by Stealthdog