Dream April 17-21
We got off the Dream yesterday. Rather than a full trip report, here are some of the highlights.
(Note: Michael wrote this on April 22, my notes are in red)
• Boarding: We were incredibly stressed on how this would go, given everything we’ve read here. Well, it couldn’t have been easier. Our official check-in time (port arrival time) was 1130, but despite indications from others on this board, we couldn’t believe Disney would make us wait if we arrived early. So we got up early and arrived at the terminal around 930am (we had spent the weekend at the Four Points in Cocoa Beach). We dropped off the bags and DW ("darling wife" in boardspeak) waited with the kids in line while I parked the car in the new parking garage.
There were about 20-30 people ahead of us. At 1005 they starting letting people in to the terminal. As we approached the registration desk, a CM (cast member...Disneyspeak for workerbee) handed DW a #2 boarding card! The CM didn’t even ask us what our scheduled arrival time was. So clearly boarding was first come, first served (which is how it should be!). They started letting people into the ship around 1145, and we were on-board by 12 noon. We immediately went up to Deck 11 and got 4 chairs (we were a group of 8, myself, DW, FIL(father-in-law), MIL (mother-in-law), DD15 (darling daughter, DS is darling son), DD13, DD11 and DS9). At that time, the pool deck was empty, so we got chairs 1 row from the front row, on the side with a good view of the big screen. We went to Cabannas for lunch, and then spent the rest of the day at the pool. When we got back to our chairs about 20 minutes later, the pool deck was still mostly empty.
• Getting chairs by the Kid’s pool: Next to boarding, this was our second biggest concern. Again, it turned out to be no problem at all. After our cruise, I think the criticisms of the Dream on this point are way over exaggerated. Yes, if you get there late, you’ll have a problem getting a good chair around the pool. But that’s no different than on other Disney ships, from our experience. So what’s late? From our experience, I think if you get to the pool by 10am you’ll have no problem getting chairs on the pool deck.
Also, getting chairs with a mix of sun and shade isn’t too hard. We decided against chairs right next to the pool because they were constant sun. Instead, we choose chairs a couple of rows back, to take advantage of shade formed by the deck above. We never had to go upstairs for chairs, so I can't comment on how they are.
• Pool size and crowd on the ship: As others have said, the pools on the Dream are no bigger than the Magic and Wonder. But, I didn’t think the crowds were any worse than on the smaller ships. In fact, I thought the crowds on the Dream were no better/no worse than the Magic/Wonder.
• Adult pool: Our rooms were on Deck 7 forward, so to get to Cabannas or the kids pool we had to walk through the adult pool (we could have avoided it by walking to mid-ship and then going up – and in fact sometimes we did that – but we were on vacation so we did whatever made sense at the time) . A lot of people did this. It wasn’t a constantly flow of kids through the adult pool area, but it was pretty regular.
Just one time I saw a teen sitting in the adult area with his dad. One time I was sitting in the hot tub (a good place to relax and read a book) when DD11 came up and told me about the injustices being thrust upon her by an evil collaboration of DD13 and DS9 involving chocolate coins. The point here being, the adult pool was mostly but not entirely kid-free. So I think that if you’re looking for an adult pool area entirely devoid of kids, then sometimes you might have been disappointed by this cruise. (and despite what others have reported, I didn't see any CMs enforcing the adult-only policy; the bartenders and wait staff seemed to be focused on selling drinks, not upsetting potential customers) But there are other places if you’re looking to avoid kids. For example, I never saw kids in Cove Café or the adult bars, and the walking track on Deck 4 was almost always practically empty and great places to sit and read.
• Champagne Tasting: DW and I did this. It was a fun way to spend an hour in the Pink lounge. It was $20 each, and they poured 3 champagnes and 1 champagne cocktail. Each pour was a full glass, so it was a good deal too.
• Food: I ate too much. And here's the thing -- and this is probably heresy to say here -- but the food on the ship is average to good, and rarely is great (even in Palos). Seeing "ahi tuna & avocado stack" or "truffle infused mushroom risotto" or "curry carrot soup" (something like that) sounds so good on the menu, and the CMs are so friendly, I can't resist ordering multiple appetizer courses (and sometimes entree courses) but it's too much, and really not worth it. IMHO, the only food on board that consistently rises to the level of greatness are the fried chicken strips at the Deck 11 food court.
• Shutters: I like the new library format on the Dream. It’s true it gets crowded, especially the last night, so if you’re just trying to walk through, it’s better to use the other side.
• Adult bars: The lazy boys in the sports bar are great. I watched the first half of the Celtics-Knicks game with my feet up and a Manhattan in my hand (they use too much vermouth, but still good). The buffet outside the sports bar was so-so. I’ve been on 4 Disney cruises on 3 ships so what I say next is based on some experience: DCL’s BBQ chicken wings suck! This amazes me, because how hard is it to make buffalo wings? But the DCL consistently makes scrawny, chewy, truly lousy chicken wings (But they served this really good cracker thing with brie and prosciutto.)
Despite enjoying the Champagne tasting, DW and I didn’t really like the Pink Lounge. It seemed a bit claustrophobic. Our favorite bar was probably Meridian adjacent to Palos, because it had balconies off both sides, and had windows everywhere.
• Castaway Cay: We had a double dip on our cruise. The Aquaduck broke while we were on Castaway Cay, so the Captain decided to forgo the sea day and instead return to Castaway Cay! This was a bonus for us, as we’d rather be at Castaway Cay than have a sea day. Also, the 2nd day at CC was much less crowded than the 1st. The stingray excursion was sold out the 1st day, but we were able to reserve it on the 2nd day. We thought of it as the best of both worlds, as you could either spend the day at CC or on the ship. There were drawbacks, as I think they canceled some of the sea day activities, notably the Palos brunch, and probably other things (I think they had a wine tasting scheduled for the sea day that was canceled). We didn't mind. We have reservations for the brunch, but we were already thinking about canceling because it takes up the whole morning, and we'd already done it before. Also, Cabannas wasn’t open for the full lunch buffet. I’m sure some people were disappointed.
• Spa. We treated our DD 15 and DD13 to their first facials, and DW had a massage. For the most part, it was a disappointment. The problem is the hard sell at the end of the treatment. Here you're all relaxed, and then you have to deal with your therapist trying to sell you really expensive stuff. This problem isn't limited to Disney, we've experienced it on other cruise lines (notably Crystal). But it is a problem, and we'll probably avoid the spa in the future (but the workout room is great, and the locker room is a great place to take a shower). (I'll note that we purposely didn't check the kids out of their treatments, and the therapists didn't try to sell the kids on products, which is a good thing.)
I had a head, neck and shoulders massage which was pretty good, but they definitely do the hard sell on products. I so hate that.
For me, the best part was the freedom that our kids had. We rarely saw Katie as she spent most of her time in the teen area called "Vibe," to the point that she didn't get much of a tan, and Abby spent most of her time in the tween room, called "Edge." Jack was in and out of the kids clubs, and spent a lot of time with his new buddies (and a friend from his school!). Unfortunately, Carrie is in between the ages of the Edge (11-13) and Vibe (14-17) as she is almost 14 and felt that she was too old for the "babyish" Edge, yet she didn't feel comfortable in the teenage area. By the end, she found some older tweens who she hung out with.
My parents had a great time and hung with us sometimes and in the adult areas sometimes.
