gregf71
11-17-2011, 06:46 PM
My wife, 5 year old daughter and I enjoyed a wonderful 4 night cruise on the Dream over Halloween. Here are some of our thoughts about our adventure:
• The Aqua Duck! The Aqua Duck! We only managed to get on it twice, but each time was soooo much fun, especially at night when you go out over the side of the ship and all you see is darkness!
• The Oceaneer Club and Lab are amazing! The facilities are wonderful and the counselors were so nice. Our daughter loved spending time there and often asked to leave Mom and Dad to go have more fun there. She cried when we had to turn in her ID bracelet the last night.
• Pirate Night was so much fun! First the dinner offered a special pirate themed menu and all of the servers were dressed up like buccaneers! And we had a blast at the party afterwards on the main deck, especially with the fireworks!
• The interactive artwork was so cool! I was thoroughly entertained by one that looked like an old map. As I watched, dolphins swam and flipped up and out of the water and a sea serpent growled. Best of all was when two ships appeared and battled it out with their cannon!
• Senses Spa was very nice. My wife and I were lucky enough to have time to visit it twice during our cruise as our daughter wanted to play in the Oceaneer Club.
• Though I think that our cabin on the Dream was actually smaller than its equal classification on the Wonder, having the ability to push luggage under the bed totally made up for it.
• Best Restaurant: Royal Palace. Beautiful throughout and we thought that the accompanying cast member outfits were the best of the three, excluding the pirate outfits of course. The food? Well, the food quality for dinner at all of the big three restaurants was wonderful, so we judged this category on ambiance alone.
• Best Drink: Witches Brew! Spooky looking and so delicious! I wish I could figure out the proper mixture.
• Best Onboard Lounge: Skyline…it was slick, classic and very cool. 687 and Evolution were just too loud for casual drinks. We poked our heads into Pink, which was very cool too, but Skyline was more to our taste.
• Best Onboard Coffee: Vista Café…my wife had to feed the need for something brewed and she was very pleased with her coffee at Vista.
• Best Drink Souvenirs: Our blue, purple, and pink translucent plastic coconuts! We thoroughly enjoyed sipping our tropical concoctions in these little beauties while enjoying the sun, sand, and sea on Castaway Cay! Speaking of Castaway Cay...is there any better place in the world?! :cloud9:
• Best Stage Show: Believe…great show! Nice variety, as it covers many favorite Disney classics and includes tons of Disney characters. We also saw Villains Tonight, but found it kind of cheesy.
• Greatest Pleasure While Onboard: I didn’t get seasick!!!! Wooo hooo! I could not make that statement when we last cruised in 2001. This time I took the necessary precautions and wore a motion sickness patch. Even with the rockiness of the first and last night of the cruise, I came through with flying colors!
• Most Curious Moment: While docked in Nassau, standing on our verandah and watching the cruise ship docked next to us throwing out mattress after mattress. Inquiring minds wondered if this was due to little creepy crawlies on that ship or just scheduled replacement.
• In my opinion, Animator’s Palate on the Dream pales in comparison to its sister eateries on the Magic and Wonder. It just was not the same wonderful ambiance and show that the original APs offer. If I want to see Turtle Talk with Crush I can go to Epcot or California Adventure.
• Unfortunate Entertainment Moment: A slight technical error (I am assuming) that caused a smoke effect to roll out into several rows of the audience, causing many people to start coughing.
• While we understood the need for cleanliness and a historical concern for transmitting illnesses on cruise ships, we felt that the cast members standing in front of EVERY eatery, during EVERY meal service, handing out hand sanitizers was a bit too much, but hey we didn’t get sick on the cruise, did we?
• Sure wish that the Disney PhotoPass operated on the Disney Cruise Line too.
All in all, we had a wonderful time on the Dream and realized that 4 nights is just not long enough. I see 7 nights or longer in our future!!! :thumbsup:
• The Aqua Duck! The Aqua Duck! We only managed to get on it twice, but each time was soooo much fun, especially at night when you go out over the side of the ship and all you see is darkness!
• The Oceaneer Club and Lab are amazing! The facilities are wonderful and the counselors were so nice. Our daughter loved spending time there and often asked to leave Mom and Dad to go have more fun there. She cried when we had to turn in her ID bracelet the last night.
• Pirate Night was so much fun! First the dinner offered a special pirate themed menu and all of the servers were dressed up like buccaneers! And we had a blast at the party afterwards on the main deck, especially with the fireworks!
• The interactive artwork was so cool! I was thoroughly entertained by one that looked like an old map. As I watched, dolphins swam and flipped up and out of the water and a sea serpent growled. Best of all was when two ships appeared and battled it out with their cannon!
• Senses Spa was very nice. My wife and I were lucky enough to have time to visit it twice during our cruise as our daughter wanted to play in the Oceaneer Club.
• Though I think that our cabin on the Dream was actually smaller than its equal classification on the Wonder, having the ability to push luggage under the bed totally made up for it.
• Best Restaurant: Royal Palace. Beautiful throughout and we thought that the accompanying cast member outfits were the best of the three, excluding the pirate outfits of course. The food? Well, the food quality for dinner at all of the big three restaurants was wonderful, so we judged this category on ambiance alone.
• Best Drink: Witches Brew! Spooky looking and so delicious! I wish I could figure out the proper mixture.
• Best Onboard Lounge: Skyline…it was slick, classic and very cool. 687 and Evolution were just too loud for casual drinks. We poked our heads into Pink, which was very cool too, but Skyline was more to our taste.
• Best Onboard Coffee: Vista Café…my wife had to feed the need for something brewed and she was very pleased with her coffee at Vista.
• Best Drink Souvenirs: Our blue, purple, and pink translucent plastic coconuts! We thoroughly enjoyed sipping our tropical concoctions in these little beauties while enjoying the sun, sand, and sea on Castaway Cay! Speaking of Castaway Cay...is there any better place in the world?! :cloud9:
• Best Stage Show: Believe…great show! Nice variety, as it covers many favorite Disney classics and includes tons of Disney characters. We also saw Villains Tonight, but found it kind of cheesy.
• Greatest Pleasure While Onboard: I didn’t get seasick!!!! Wooo hooo! I could not make that statement when we last cruised in 2001. This time I took the necessary precautions and wore a motion sickness patch. Even with the rockiness of the first and last night of the cruise, I came through with flying colors!
• Most Curious Moment: While docked in Nassau, standing on our verandah and watching the cruise ship docked next to us throwing out mattress after mattress. Inquiring minds wondered if this was due to little creepy crawlies on that ship or just scheduled replacement.
• In my opinion, Animator’s Palate on the Dream pales in comparison to its sister eateries on the Magic and Wonder. It just was not the same wonderful ambiance and show that the original APs offer. If I want to see Turtle Talk with Crush I can go to Epcot or California Adventure.
• Unfortunate Entertainment Moment: A slight technical error (I am assuming) that caused a smoke effect to roll out into several rows of the audience, causing many people to start coughing.
• While we understood the need for cleanliness and a historical concern for transmitting illnesses on cruise ships, we felt that the cast members standing in front of EVERY eatery, during EVERY meal service, handing out hand sanitizers was a bit too much, but hey we didn’t get sick on the cruise, did we?
• Sure wish that the Disney PhotoPass operated on the Disney Cruise Line too.
All in all, we had a wonderful time on the Dream and realized that 4 nights is just not long enough. I see 7 nights or longer in our future!!! :thumbsup: