Disney Dream Live September 8 - 15 (first time Disney cruiser)

[PhillyTravelBug]

Three more days until we fly over to England, so I figured now would be a good time to start a live blog.  I have been faithful to NCL for about a decade, but will be celebrating my mother's 60th birthday on our first Disney cruise together.  I am 44 and we both are from the Philadelphia area. For her 60th birthday, I said I would take her on a trip somewhere.  Originally, we were looking at Tokyo Disney, but then started to add up all the expenses.  We both have done enough of the Caribbean, and love cooler climates and Europe, so this itinerary checked all the boxes.

 

Originally, once we decided on a cruise, I tried to  see if she wanted to do an itinerary with NCL, but she is set on Disney.  At this point, I am open to trying another line and have a sailing booked with Celebrity for next year.  We have a verendah room booked and will be flying overnight on September 6, landing September 7 in the morning.

 

Our plans for the 7th are to go from the airport to Windsor castle.  Tickets are purchased and we are storing our luggage through stasher at a pet store within walking distance of the castle. 

 

We figured we will be exhausted by this point and booked a room at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in London.  Hopefully, we will have enough energy I can show my mom a few sights around the area since it's in a prime location.

 

Our boarding time for Sunday is 12:15 - 12:30pm and plan to take the train from Waterloo to Southampton.

 

First impressions I have with the booking and preparations is that Disney sort of feels like a cruising style from when I was younger in the 90's. While it won't be a huge burden,  I haven't had a set dining time in decades. While I definitely understand why Disney does it, I wasn't quite used to your tier level giving you an upper hand when booking dining and excursions.  It also seems like their tipping system is from times past as well.   I did prepay our gratuities, but have read that the staff seem to advocate for their gratuities.  Not sure how this will work with prepaying tips and have no issues with providing extra gratuities for exceptional service.  

 

All in all, I am looking forward to being back at sea, giving a new line a try, and enjoy some alone time with my mother.  Any questions or requests, please let me know and enjoy along with us.

 

If interested in checking out my blog from last years sailing....NCL Prima Iceland/ Norway 2023

 

Edited September 3 by PhillyTravelBug

[cruiseny4life]

Ooooo! I'm looking forward to this. Especially your thoughts on the rotational dining since (if I'm right) you'll be rotating at least two to two and a half times through the three restaurants? This, plus the set dining and same meal partners, is what really is keeping us from booking Disney. Well, and that suites don't have a separate area like they do on Norwegian.

 

Anyway - hoping you have a quite wonderful travel experience with mum!!

[PhillyTravelBug]

Thank you very much. I’m curious how the rotational dining will work out as well. While it’s nice to dine where you want and when you want, it will be nice to have that personal experience with the dining staff throughout.

 

some activities we have planned:

 

Dinner at Remy for the first evening. After painfully seeing the days come and go for previous cruisers, I was shocked to see they had anything available for Remy. I grabbed the first one I saw. 
 

we plan to wing it for our days in Glasgow and Liverpool. Any excursions we had interest in were snagged and feel comfortable just doing whatever will interest us that day.

 
In Cork, I am doing an excursion to see the Blarney castle while my mom does the Kinsale and Cork countryside excursion. 
 

In Plymouth we are doing the West Dorset Coast Panoramic excursion and having dinner at Palo.

 

We also hope to get passes to the rainforest spa, but not sure how quickly they will sell out. Anyone have an idea? This is where I will probably be most of the time on the boat during down times.

 

starting to really look forward to this and compare lines!

 

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

Lucky you getting that Remy reservation! I've heard how difficult that can be, especially for someone without any status on Disney. That's so exciting!!!

[gometros]

On 9/4/2024 at 3:08 PM, cruiseny4life said:

Ooooo! I'm looking forward to this. Especially your thoughts on the rotational dining since (if I'm right) you'll be rotating at least two to two and a half times through the three restaurants? This, plus the set dining and same meal partners, is what really is keeping us from booking Disney. Well, and that suites don't have a separate area like they do on Norwegian.

 

Anyway - hoping you have a quite wonderful travel experience with mum!!

 

For his 7- night cruise, he'll be eating in all three restaurants twice and once more in one of the three.

[gometros]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:10 AM, cruiseny4life said:

Lucky you getting that Remy reservation! I've heard how difficult that can be, especially for someone without any status on Disney. That's so exciting!!!

 

Remy is actually easier that Palo, since it's a bigger upcharge (but worth every penny IMHO).

 

I didn't catch if you were travelling with young ones or not, but if not, check out Evolutions at night. There are some great shows and funny games. Do not miss Match Your Mate (think the Newlywed Game but as unDisney as they can get 😉)

[PhillyTravelBug]

9 hours ago, gometros said:

 

Remy is actually easier that Palo, since it's a bigger upcharge (but worth every penny IMHO).

 

I didn't catch if you were travelling with young ones or not, but if not, check out Evolutions at night. There are some great shows and funny games. Do not miss Match Your Mate (think the Newlywed Game but as unDisney as they can get 😉)

 

thank you for the tips! We are not traveling with younger ones but will check out the shows definitely. Just landed and are grabbing coffee by Windsor castle before we tour. Smooth flight, but barely any sleep. We will end up crashing later on when we check in to our hotel.

[PhillyTravelBug]

We had a very smooth flight, landed, and took a cab to Windsor castle. The castle was long, but very enjoyable. Sleep deprivation is definitely starting to hit, but will be adjusted tomorrow. We had our luggage stored through Stasher, so we could visit the castle. We stored them at a barber shop within walking distance. It worked, but was vey bizarre.

[PhillyTravelBug]

Obligatory London pics. It’s been a long day, so we are winding down now. Embarkation day tomorrow!

[STLCARDS82]

Was the king at Windsor or was he at Buckingham Palace when you were there? 

[PhillyTravelBug]

1 hour ago, STLCARDS82 said:

Was the king at Windsor or was he at Buckingham Palace when you were there? 

I’m assuming at Buckingham Palace. We did not hear any word about him being at Windsor while we were there.

[PhillyTravelBug]

We are on board! Took the train from London to Southampton without any issues. Checking in was very busy, but went smooth. We had a 12:15-12:30 check in. Arrived shortly after 12:30 and was boarding group 15. They were on group 13 and only waited about 15 minutes. Once we boarded we went right to the spa to get our rainforest spa passes and they were still available. Price was $159 per person.  Now the worries are gone!!!

 

Onto Cabanas for lunch. As expected, it was quite crowded. The lines were manageable but have difficulty finding a table. After lunch we grabbed some lattes and on to our rooms. I must say, as a NCL regular, I much preferred the cabin I had last year in the Prima. This cabin is suitable, but what a difference in quality and style. Just my personal opinion as they are two different clientele with Disney being much more family oriented. There is plenty of space for hanging clothes and for drawer space for the both of us.

 

muster drill is up next. Last year was the first time we were able to do the muster drill in our rooms or on our phones and was a pretty seamless process. 
 

We have dinner reservations at Remy tonight. Very much looking forward to that!

I also did purchase the middle tier Internet package. Of course it’s an expense, but I think disneys pricing was slightly less.
 

[gometros]

Not having sailed NCL, do you happen to have photos of that cabin for comparison? We've sailed Carnival, Cunard, Princess and RCI and in the same stateroom category have found the DCL staterooms tend to be the roomiest.

[PhillyTravelBug]

9 minutes ago, gometros said:

Not having sailed NCL, do you happen to have photos of that cabin for comparison? We've sailed Carnival, Cunard, Princess and RCI and in the same stateroom category have found the DCL staterooms tend to be the roomiest.

These were the only ones I have saved

Edited September 8 by PhillyTravelBug

[PhillyTravelBug]

A little issue that guest services is looking into. I purchased a $1,000 onboard credit through  Disney cruise line website that is not showing up on our onboard account and we don’t have the $250 credit from our travel agent.  They are going to contact onshore services.

[PhillyTravelBug]

39 minutes ago, gometros said:

Not having sailed NCL, do you happen to have photos of that cabin for comparison? We've sailed Carnival, Cunard, Princess and RCI and in the same stateroom category have found the DCL staterooms tend to be the roomiest.

Found some more from my blog of this trip.

 

[Host Hattie]

Here's your ship leaving Southampton taken from Queen Anne. 

 

[PhillyTravelBug]

Love this! Thank you so much!!

[PhillyTravelBug]

Dinner at Remy tonight and it was phenomenal. Best dinner I’ve had in years. Service was top notch!! I left with a sugar high. We ordered dessert and then they brought out an additional desert since we are celebrating my mom’s birthday. At the very end they gave her a rose. Such wonderful touches.

 

Edited September 8 by PhillyTravelBug

[PhillyTravelBug]

Final bit for the day.. there were light showers as we were sailing away, so they moved the party inside to the atrium area.

 

[STLCARDS82]

21 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

I’m assuming at Buckingham Palace. We did not hear any word about him being at Windsor while we were there.

If the king would've been at Buckingham Palace, the Royal standard will be flying from a flagpole on top of the palace, same with Windsor!!

[PhillyTravelBug]

Sea day and woke up around 6:30 to grab breakfast and get a workout in after last nights dinner.  I was quite surprised to see the buffet didn’t open until 7:30am.  However, kudos to Disney on their buffet. It is quite manageable and rather easy to find a table. Maybe everyone was sleeping in.  NCL buffet is always a cluster. The gym was rather easy to navigate. Busy, but was able to find something open.

 

we played bingo without any luck and then headed to the rainforest spa. As expected, it’s packed. It’s extremely limited in comparison to  NCL, but relaxing.

walking back, I passed by someone who is celebrating their 50th Disney cruise. I have a ways to go!

[cruiseny4life]

On 9/8/2024 at 10:14 AM, PhillyTravelBug said:

 

Now those are cool welcome drinks! I don't often order specialty coffees, but I'm thinking I would for these!!

[gometros]

6 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Sea day and woke up around 6:30 to grab breakfast and get a workout in after last nights dinner.  I was quite surprised to see the buffet didn’t open until 7:30am.  However, kudos to Disney on their buffet. It is quite manageable and rather easy to find a table. Maybe everyone was sleeping in.  NCL buffet is always a cluster. The gym was rather easy to navigate. Busy, but was able to find something open.

 

we played bingo without any luck and then headed to the rainforest spa. As expected, it’s packed. It’s extremely limited in comparison to  NCL, but relaxing.

walking back, I passed by someone who is celebrating their 50th Disney cruise. I have a ways to go!

 

If you're hungry before then, go to the Cove Cafe just outside the spa. There are pastries for free. You don't even have to purchase a coffee

[gometros]

Thsnks for the comparison photos. It's hard to tell for sure, but I feel like the room size is comparable. We've always stayed in a veranda room either deluxe or family. But you have the direct experience, so I defer to a fellow Keystoner.