April 17, 2011 on the Dream

[allaboutdisney1967]

Hello to one and all. Thank you all for the FE gifts. We had a great time delivering them ad receiving them. Everyone loves to get mail.

Our dinner at Palo's was fantastic. Our server Kristian (male) was great. He had an great personality and he was a plethera of knowledge. Marco the maitre d' was wonderful as well. He stopped by our table several times and talked with us.

Our mousekeeper, Donna from Jamaica, was very nice and she took good care of us.

We had room service every night. The delivery was prompt and the server very nice.

Our head server and server were very nice and had great personality, but they seemed overwhelmed. The deembarkation breakfast was a little chaotic. The apologized to the table.

Agree with several previous posters that the food was good, but not great every night. Also that the adult menu was a little "too adult" for children who are no longer categorized as children by Disney. I know there was always the back up kids menu, but I agree with PP, you are paying pricing for your child as an adult and would like them to be able to eat as such.

Overall we had a good time. We had even met two couples in Meridian who were staying at BLT with us after the cruise. We bumped into them at the pool at BLT.

Donna

 

[mommy2sixpumpkins]

Thank you all for the wonderful FE gifts! It was truly one of the highlights of the trip. We were traveling with my parents and SIL and Brother. They were all excited to see what we got.

This was our first Disney cruise so we don't have anything to really compare it to however we were a bit disappointed. It seemed to lack something, however I can't quite put my finger on it. My girls had an appointment to get their hair braided on the day they did the surprise CC stop. They canceled their appointments but we were able to get them done by stopping by. Did anyone else get your hair braided or get your children's braided? Both of my girls have broken out in a horrible rash on their scalps where the braids are. Tiny red bumps that are painful and they are only where the braid are. I have been doing antibiotic ointment on them but I am afraid that I am now going to have to take them to the drs as it is getting worse. Anyone else have this issue?

We didn't rebook however I am thinking about booking either on the Magic or Wonder. Anyone have a preference on either of those boats?

 

[goofy4tink]

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful FE gifts. It was one of the highlights for my DD. She loved finding gifts in the FE everytime we came back to the cabin.

I am sorry so many of you had bad experiences with CMs. We lucked out. Our Room steward, Made, was wonderful. He was always around in the hall and seemed to know when we stepped out for breakfast. He had our room made up everytime before we returned. We gave him a nice tip and a box of Mickey cookies that I had specially made. Our servers were very good. The assistant server was new but worked very hard and had a wonderful personality. He spent time joking with our DD and was her favorite. Our main server worked very hard and usually did not have time to talk until after the service. He was a Disney veteran that came over from the Magic. I even liked our Head Server, he came over every night to chat with us. We ate in AP the first night. The service was really slow but we think that the restuarant configuration was to blame and maybe our perception since it was the first night and we were excited to be done with dinner and to explore the ship. I found the food hit or miss. Some dishes I loved, others were just ok. Overall we really liked the meals - the servers, the food and the atmosphere. Cabanas and Corkys BBQ were ok. The chicken strips on deck 11 were awesome. I had a very good ham and cheese panini there too. Overall, I found a hard time finding a good piece of fruit. It was usually underripe or lacked flavor.

We did the Discover Atlantis tour. I wanted to set it since the last time I had been to Nassau, many years ago it was not there. I loved the guided tour of all the aquarium exhibits. My DD loved it so much that we went to the casino to get the DH and show him around. She remembered lots of the names of the fish and sea life and was proud to show her dad.

We live 2 blocks from the beach so it is hard to interest my DD in doing anything on the beach. We stayed on the ship the morning of the first CC stop and had the pools nearly to ourselves. Too bad the Duck broke down. We did go on CC for lunch and in the afternoon. Everyone was returning to the ship so we found a few abandoned rafts and floated around in the lagoon until 4:30. There was hardly anyone around where we were on the far end of the lagoon. By accident we were able to beat the crowds and had a really great day.

My daughter just loved the Oceaneers Club. Everytime we went to pick her up they were doing an organized activity and I would have to wait for a good stopping point. She said that lots of the characters visited the clubs including Mickey and Minnie. One evening we picked her up and Pulto was there. They were having Pluto's Pajama Party and she had decorated her own Pluto pillowcase. She usually went from 5:30-7:30pm then after dinner (we had the second rotation). The counselors picked her up in the restaurant lobby and we got to enjoy dessert service and an after dinner activity like a movie or a stroll around the deck by ourselves.

I thought the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We had a verandah on port side and enjoyed our view of CC and would often sit on the verandah and watch the waves. It was so relaxing. I loved our room and the split bath and toilet. I printed the list of packing items on this forum and many of the little extras came in handy. We booked with AAA and got a fruit basket as a welcome gift and a plate of desserts on the last night in addition to a room credit. We didn't know we were getting any of that so it was a nice surprise.

I wished there was something else on TV besides Disney, ESPN, CNN and very limited ABC. Once I was watching Oprah and the screen flashed the message that they could not longer transmit because of international regulations, so no more Oprah, that was a pain. But truth be told we didn't spend that much time watching tv. It was irritatting that they had ESPN which was too tempting for the DH so he had it on sometimes and I didn't care to hear it. I am not a professional sports fan.

We wanted to book for next Spring Break but the dates don't work for us. DD will be 7 so I think we will do the parks next year before the magic totally wears off. In 2013 we will be done with making payments for her 529 account for college so I think we will celebrate not having to make that payment and having more $$$ with a Spring Break cruise.

I hope you enjoyed the FE cookies. Hopefully we will be shipping soon. Keep an eye out on the website if you are interested.

Best wishes to everyone,
Karen

We loved all our FE gifts, but my dh loved those cookies the best!!! Still haven't eaten them..saving them for that post vacation depression!!
It's almost funny that so many of us that have cruised with DCL before had pretty much the same feelings. Thanks for posting them. I don't feel quite so cranky now. I was beginning to think it was just me.
Dd Kate has college to look forward to in 18 months....so a tightening of the belt is in order for us. Sad to say that was our last big vacation for awhile. But dh does want to cruise again, once tuition bills are smaller!!!! Will that ever happen???

 

[castlegazer]

Everyone's work on the FE's gifts were so amazing! From the cookies, to the CD's, which were absolutely the BEST CDs we have ever gotten from any cruise, or vacation even buying them, to the amazing handmade gifts, bags, notepads, the bottle caps, the luggage handles, the candy wrappers!!! Really people... you shame me! I am normally such a crafter but this trip was just so hard to do anything prior to that was crafty you all made my lack of ability to get anything done so much easier to hanldle!

The cookies have been shown off to so many people, and the CDs are played every single day in our house and are the background music for our trip DVDs! The bags go with us everywhere and I am not sure when my kids are going to come down off their sugar high! We have pens and pencils in every nook and corner of bags and of the house now also!

I love you all so much for this!!

I wanted to pipe up again to agree with a bunch of you: My favorite meal in the regular rotation dining rooms also was the sea bass in EG - but that was my most hated meal experience by far and we left early - such a crowded out of control restaurant! How absolutely awful!

That first buffet at Cabanas was amazing! The lamb I had and the pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce was to die for - I got so excited for the rest of the cruise - what the hell happened after that!!!??? OMG, never had a decent meal again until Remy!

Remy!!! Oh, everyone, Remy is to die for!!! I will post pictures for you all soon! Just to do die for!! Puts Palo to shame!!

But the sports deck issue was huge in there also! So noisy in such a fancy restaurant - how asinine@!

Diane, I felt so badly for you with the loss of Palo on that Castaway Cay day. My kids wanted nothing to do with Castaway Cay another day so we did the glass bottom boat tour which was OK, so so. Then they stayed in their favorite area of In Da Shade which we had never experienced before this cruise which now is one of our absolute favorite places! What a hidden gem! So much fun! We played chess, foosball, shuffleboard, giant connect four - all in the shade as opposed to where they have these things on the ship, which now is such a stinky location.

We saw a 3-D TRon which was awesome!!! I got completely addicted to the french fries and Mayonaise! OMG, I am gallbladderless woman - this was a huge issue! But man, so yummy, plus the food was just not doing it for any of us and those fries were so yummy!

The ship is so big that I didn't gain any weight! AWESOME!! Man, that was a lot of walking!

We did a bathrom tour one day just to check out all the nooks and crannies of the ship and that was so cool!

OK - I will keep thinking of things to tell you all!! I think I need to do a trip report!

Oh, and of course our cabin was absolutely the BEST of any cruise ship we have ever been on!!! Holy cow!! As some of you saw - WHAT A VERANDAH!!! WE didn't need that much space at all!!! But man it was nice to have!

 

[castlegazer]

Oh, two more things I just thought of:

We ran into our favorite and best server from the Magic on the last night - Nikola, who is now a head server and was at Royal Palace that last night, so if you had this rotation, he is awesome. BUT he said, while he was super happy with the promotion and his ability to now be a head server, he really didn't like working on the Dream and hoped things would smooth out. He missed the longer cruises so much and the ability to get to know his passengers. Ahhhh, soooo sweet! He was being so honest with us. I felt his pain!

Second point, what a bizarre way to set up the kids pools!! Shere craziness other than the coolness of being able to see the big screen while in the Mickey pool, but honestly, who can see it with all the people crammed in there? We certainly couldn't.

But in the opposite to what I thought I would feel about the adult pool and it being so small, I actually ended up loving it and loving the intimacy of it. It was a great place to hang out and get to know people.

I also found both the family and adult hot tubs to be great and not super crowded at all! My kids spent an inordinate amount of time in the hot tubs.. so much so that I kept telling them I was going to bring them some drawn butter! They really liked the views and the calmness of them.

 

[WPoohgirl]

Thank you all for the wonderful FE gifts! It was truly one of the highlights of the trip. We were traveling with my parents and SIL and Brother. They were all excited to see what we got.

This was our first Disney cruise so we don't have anything to really compare it to however we were a bit disappointed. It seemed to lack something, however I can't quite put my finger on it. My girls had an appointment to get their hair braided on the day they did the surprise CC stop. They canceled their appointments but we were able to get them done by stopping by. Did anyone else get your hair braided or get your children's braided? Both of my girls have broken out in a horrible rash on their scalps where the braids are. Tiny red bumps that are painful and they are only where the braid are. I have been doing antibiotic ointment on them but I am afraid that I am now going to have to take them to the drs as it is getting worse. Anyone else have this issue?

We didn't rebook however I am thinking about booking either on the Magic or Wonder. Anyone have a preference on either of those boats?

I know the first time I got my hair braided (I lived in St John, US VI) I did not put sunblock on and got a terrible burn on my scalp. A West Indian lady told me to always put sunblock on it after that. That could be the problem.

There was some magic missing from the cruise. The attention to detail and time to bond with the staff was not there. Our first cruise we went on the
Wonder. When I leaned over to cut my son's meat the waiter gently put his hands over mine and took the knife and fork saying, no no mommy's on vacation I will do that. I was like, I LOVE YOU MAN....

No disrespect to the staff but they were clearly stressed as I am sure anyone would be in the situation they were in. We couldn't even get our water refilled. They know how to do 2000. ppl really well, I think they just need some adjustment to go to the next level. The staff seemed much happier and less exhausted on the Wonder. I cannot speak to the Magic but we have sailed on the Wonder 3 times and it was fantastic every trip.

 

[bumperlove]

We had a wonderful cruise overall and the kids were so bummed that it was short...we were too.

Some notes
- We were late checking in since DD12 forgot her homework and we had to rendezvous with her mom to get it picked up so she could finish it. Because of this we were one of the last families getting on the ship and missed the group meet - which I was looking forward to putting meeting you guys

- We did hit the DVC meeting and have done an add-on for our points (specifically so we can cruise more lol ) - the free mimosas didn’t hurt either

- DH took DD12 to the Edge at 3pm but it was closed and they missed those who met there. Overall DD12 didn't like the Edge - there weren’t enough specific activities and she checked out it a few times and there was no one there. Tough for her to meet\meet up with other kids and just hang.

- DS10 LOVED LOVED the Oceaneer's Lab. He couldn't be more thrilled and we checked it out one night. It was BUSY! I felt very comfortable being there but I am not sure if he was younger. I actually found a little girl crying all by herself (she must have been 8-ish). No cast members had approached her at that point. I found out that she was supposed to meet someone there who didn't show and she felt like she was stuck there because her parents went to a movie. I brought her over to the castmember who assured the girl that they could call her Dad and she perked right up and she was talking to her Dad on a wave when we left.

- Our Room steward was awesome. Our room was always prepared and while I made sure we picked up before we left, the room was always immaculate when we came back. Also he made arrangements with DH to have a private towel animal class with the kids in the room and gave them certificates proclaiming them towel animal pros. They loved it.

- For our meals...yeah they we were bit slow but our main server was great at getting the kids finished up earlier if they wanted to do something later on. She was also very personable though she didn't do those quirky cool things other server did (the balancing toothpick thing we saw on other tables was very cool), but she was great. Our assistant server made a few mistakes but nothing of any consequence...mainly with our after dinner drinks. She was warm and tried very hard. Our head server made a point to talk with us and interact with the kids each night which was very nice...and a surprise since our previous head waiter only appeared on the last day for the tip.

- The food everywhere ranged from pretty good to yummy. Only exception for me was Cookies Too. I can't say enough bad things about this place. We had to get in separate lines for fresh fruit since our main food line had no fruit. Then they ran out of everything except hot dogs while we were in line...this was about 1pm. I finally ended up getting some chicken but it was dry and flavorless, the corn on the cob was over cooked and rubbery. Thank goodness for cookies and icecream. I thought that it seemed unorganized and poorly laid out for the lines.

- We were stoked that we got to ride the AquaDuck with little lines on the 2nd Castaway Cay day. We hadn't tried it before and with the announcement thought it might be an experience that we would have to forego but were happy to finally ride the Duck! DS10 rode 3 times in a row

- DD12 got her hairbraided on embarkation day. This worked out really well for us as she was able to have her new style the whole trip and she liked that her hair was out of her face. She had half her head braided and it was $26 including tip.

- DH and I did the martini tasting and were so pleased! Neither of us is big drinkers but the tasting was perfect and we never felt out of place. We tried about 5 different martinis and learned the history of the martini and how it evolved. I would def recommend.

- We saw Tangled 3D on the night with the dessert buffet. We grabbed some plates of desserts and headed to the movies. Yummy!

- We had no problems at Cabanas - did our embarkation lunch there and our daily breakfast there. We never had issues and enjoyed the food.

- We also did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim excursion and we all had a wonderful time. The trainers were great and really made all of us very comfortable and the dolphins were incredible!

- DD12 did have some issues with the crowds at the pools but the rest of us never tried them out. The adult pool always seemed pretty quiet.

- Pirate night was so much fun!!!! We really enjoyed both shows (though Capt Sparrow's was a hoot). I was surprised that the fireworks were as good as they were as I had assumed they would be much smaller.

- We used the elevators only 5 times the entire trip (and 2 times were just to see the artwork). The rest of the times we used the stairs and walked everywhere on the ship. I didn't gain a pound....who hoo

- We all felt that there were so many things and not nearly enough time in 4 days to even skim the surface. We booked the Fantasy (western Caribbean) for next summer!

We are all so sad to be back in reality and I am more than sick . Started with a sore throat the last night of the cruise. Ugh

--Linds

 

[mommy2sixpumpkins]

I know the first time I got my hair braided (I lived in St John, US VI) I did not put sunblock on and got a terrible burn on my scalp. A West Indian lady told me to always put sunblock on it after that. That could be the problem.

There was some magic missing from the cruise. The attention to detail and time to bond with the staff was not there. Our first cruise we went on the
Wonder. When I leaned over to cut my son's meat the waiter gently put his hands over mine and took the knife and fork saying, no no mommy's on vacation I will do that. I was like, I LOVE YOU MAN....

No disrespect to the staff but they were clearly stressed as I am sure anyone would be in the situation they were in. We couldn't even get our water refilled. They know how to do 2000. ppl really well, I think they just need some adjustment to go to the next level. The staff seemed much happier and less exhausted on the Wonder. I cannot speak to the Magic but we have sailed on the Wonder 3 times and it was fantastic every trip.

We were also told to put sunscreen on that part and we did. I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is. She did have chunks of wax in a couple of the braids and I am wondering if it is maybe a reaction to it? I am going to take some pictures of it today and see if I can figure out what it is. It is definitely more of a rash than a sunburn. Very strange!

I am glad to know that I wasn't the only one who felt it was missing some of the magic. It was a great vacation, don't get me wrong but not what I had expected. Someone stole our Mickey ears the first night off both of our doors. I put more out and never had a problem after that. I also did the signed pillowcases and those turned out adorable! All together our group had 4 rooms so I had each of them check in stuff for the CM's to sign. I had a fiasco with one of them but they finally came through for me around 11pm the night before we left. Not sure I would ever do that again.

 

[momtoleasawav]

we had a blast! crowded at times but I would expect that. I loved both our servers especially the assistant server. It made dinner time worth it. My daughter had fun in the oceanears club but my almost 14 year old son did not like the edge. I went to the vibe and they were perfectly fine with him going there and he enjoyed it much more.
the best things: Having my 14 year old daughter make friends on this board before the cruise! she hung with them every night!! and doing the fe exchange!! I was overwhelmed with the gifts we received and had a fun- if not tiring experience delivering them to everyone!!

 

[bdink921]

Hi everyone!! Glad everyone returned home safely. I really didn't think DH enjoyed our trip but on the last night he told me to book the Magic to Canada next summer. We may push it off to later but for now we're booked

The service on this ship was not as good as the Wonder, except for a few standouts -- I have to agree with that one. Our 6B room was great. Our room steward wasn't that good though -- dirty towels in the bathroom on the first day, not emptying garbage or removing room service plates/trays. It got better after the first 2 days and it wasn't anything serious -- just different. He was pretty much a ghost though. Our servers in the dining room were great but you could tell they were stressed. They made a couple of mistakes, but no big deal. No, there was no time for special tricks or anything like that. The first night was slow only because the assistant server was sick and there was no replacement. Others servers pitched in and helped our server. After that, meals ran smoothly. I thought the food was pretty good except the salmon in Royal Palace -- pretty dry.

Cabanas was awful. We went for breakfast on Monday and it was utter chaos. Took a loooong time to get our food and when we finally did, it was cold. Went to Royal Palace for breakfast after that and it was really good there. I think it was the time we went but I found the set up on the Wonder to be easier with 2 lines and a separate omelet station. I walked through early one morning (around 730) and there were no crowds but my guys wanted to sleep in so we ate later. Enjoyed the embarkation buffet.

Palo was excellent -- our server was Josi and she was very good as was the food. The panna cotta is made differently though and not as good as it was. On the flip side, the chocolate soufle I wasn't impressed with on the Wonder was fabulous on the Dream.

Selami and Samson at Waves on deck 12 were awesome and the area was never really crowded. I has no issues with guest services -- everyone was great. Castaway Cay was crowded -- I didn't notice any extra loungers that first day there. We ate at Cookies 2 close to opening and everything was fresh and good at that time. Had I known we were getting that second day there, I would have stayed on the ship the first one. I was too sunburned for another day at the beach .

Went to the Cove Cafe for espresso one day, there was a kid sitting at the bar with his mom. I was so surprised to see this. Also, the couple of times I walked through there, I always saw kids in the area. I remember on the Wonder, I just tried to walk through with DS, and I was stopped by a CM

I never got to hang out at the quiet cove, hit the whirlpools, see a movie, or go to any of the clubs. Guess those things will just have to stay on my list. Four days goes by way too fast. The aquaduck was fun and I loved the fireworks -- they were better than I remembered.

This was by no means a bad trip at all -- just different. We were blown away by our Wonder cruise, it was just that good and set the bar very high. I enjoyed meeting everyone so much. It's sad that our long awaited trip is over. Thank you all for the gifts and for making the past year+ fly by. Anyone book the 7/15/12 Canada cruise????

 

[JasonDVC]

I'm surprised to hear all the not-so-good reviews...we had a great time and feel it was worth every penny. This was our first Disney Cruise so we only have our RCCL cruise to compare it to.

I now see that RCCL and DCL are apples and oranges.

On RCCL we constantly were pestered to buy drinks and try their drink of the day. Not so on this Dream cruise. While there certainly were servers around and small drink stations, I weas never approached by a server or felt pressured to buy a drink from a server. This was actually quite a relief and probably saved me quite a bit of $$$$. Actually I did not find drink prices to high, in fact quite the opposite. I was pleasantly suprised to find prices to be very reasonable and in some cases lower than what I find here at local establishments. Also, there is much more shopping tempation on RCCL. I was surprised to find only 4 small shops on the Dream.

I was somewhat to surprised to find the nigt club and the late night establishments to be essential ghost towns. I suppose that is to the expected on a cruise jam packed with families.

We enjoyed the food and restaurants but a couple of nights dinner took over 2 hours, that wa a little disappointing.

In total, we loved the trip/cruise and rebooked a dummy date as we likely will not travel and for 2-3 years as the kids get a little older to fully enjoy it.

 

[hbg4]

Thank you to everyone for the FE gifts. We especially loved all those homemade gifts, they're so unique. And the candy, helps with my hypoglycemic episodes when I'm out for a long drive or at work, or stuck on the plane for hours without a snack. Glad you all made it home safe.
It's funny how I got to see one or two of you everyday and others, just during the first meeting. Couldn't make the 1st night club tour, but the 2nd night no-one showed so my mum and I did our own club tour then went to seen the rest of Tron.
We had beautiful weather and the bonus castaway Cay day was so much better without the crowds. DD even got to try out a hammock on the family beach for the first time out of her 7 visits to the island.
Now I can say been there done that on the Dream, so that we can prepare for our next 5d double dip in August 2011.
I did the on board booking for the NY to Bahamas cruise for August 2012, and saved close to $800 with the on board credit and discount
I'll keep a lookout for your names on the disboards for future DCL cruises. It is a small world after all.

 

[lildeb724]

Our servers in the dining room were great but you could tell they were stressed. They made a couple of mistakes, but no big deal. No, there was no time for special tricks or anything like that. The first night was slow only because the assistant server was sick and there was no replacement. Others servers pitched in and helped our server. After that, meals ran smoothly. I thought the food was pretty good except the salmon in Royal Palace -- pretty dry.

We did and Ida was out the first night too. Loved Mario - Ida was slow as molasses.....

 

[goofy4tink]

Everyone's work on the FE's gifts were so amazing! From the cookies, to the CD's, which were absolutely the BEST CDs we have ever gotten from any cruise, or vacation even buying them, to the amazing handmade gifts, bags, notepads, the bottle caps, the luggage handles, the candy wrappers!!! Really people... you shame me! I am normally such a crafter but this trip was just so hard to do anything prior to that was crafty you all made my lack of ability to get anything done so much easier to hanldle!

The cookies have been shown off to so many people, and the CDs are played every single day in our house and are the background music for our trip DVDs! The bags go with us everywhere and I am not sure when my kids are going to come down off their sugar high! We have pens and pencils in every nook and corner of bags and of the house now also!

I love you all so much for this!!

I wanted to pipe up again to agree with a bunch of you: My favorite meal in the regular rotation dining rooms also was the sea bass in EG - but that was my most hated meal experience by far and we left early - such a crowded out of control restaurant! How absolutely awful!

That first buffet at Cabanas was amazing! The lamb I had and the pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce was to die for - I got so excited for the rest of the cruise - what the hell happened after that!!!??? OMG, never had a decent meal again until Remy!

Remy!!! Oh, everyone, Remy is to die for!!! I will post pictures for you all soon! Just to do die for!! Puts Palo to shame!!

But the sports deck issue was huge in there also! So noisy in such a fancy restaurant - how asinine@!

Diane, I felt so badly for you with the loss of Palo on that Castaway Cay day. My kids wanted nothing to do with Castaway Cay another day so we did the glass bottom boat tour which was OK, so so. Then they stayed in their favorite area of In Da Shade which we had never experienced before this cruise which now is one of our absolute favorite places! What a hidden gem! So much fun! We played chess, foosball, shuffleboard, giant connect four - all in the shade as opposed to where they have these things on the ship, which now is such a stinky location.

We saw a 3-D TRon which was awesome!!! I got completely addicted to the french fries and Mayonaise! OMG, I am gallbladderless woman - this was a huge issue! But man, so yummy, plus the food was just not doing it for any of us and those fries were so yummy!

The ship is so big that I didn't gain any weight! AWESOME!! Man, that was a lot of walking!

We did a bathrom tour one day just to check out all the nooks and crannies of the ship and that was so cool!
OK - I will keep thinking of things to tell you all!! I think I need to do a trip report!

Oh, and of course our cabin was absolutely the BEST of any cruise ship we have ever been on!!! Holy cow!! As some of you saw - WHAT A VERANDAH!!! WE didn't need that much space at all!!! But man it was nice to have!

OMG!!! I thought I was the only one that loves the DCL bathrooms. I actually take photos in them...not when anyone is in there of course. My dd, Kate, says I'm a loon. But, they are so terrific. And they're all vastly different.

The really strange thing about my whole experience is that when I sent off an email to DCL, giving my thoughts, I clearly stated that it was myself, my dh and my 17 y/o dd on this cruise. But,. when I got the response from DCL, they mentioned my granddaughter and me! I really wanted to send a really snarky response about how this probably explained all the issues DCL was having....CMs couldn't read an email and get the important details straight. But, no, I didn't send a response. I just wanted my feelings to be noted.

To those who loved this cruise, it being your first time cruising with DCL....I did wonder how you all would feel about this cruise. I figured that if you had nothing to compare it with (DCL based anyway) then perhaps you would be fine with it. And it would seem that you all are. But, for those of us that have cruised with DCL in the past, on the Wonder and the Magic, it was hugely different. But please, don't let us take away from your wonderful memories. That isn't our intent. We are just commiserating over a lack of magic that we were hoping for...that we had found in the past.
My dd had a wonderful time on this cruise...much better than her first cruise. And that is directly because of the girls she met and hung out with on this cruise. It made such a difference to her. And for that, I can pretty much forgive any shortcomings on the ship. I am thrilled her cruise was one to remember.

 

[bdink921]

We did and Ida was out the first night too. Loved Mario - Ida was slow as molasses.....

Yeah we did have Mario and Ida. Mario was a hoot, wasn't he?? I loved his spiel every night as he went through his menu recommendations. I thought Ida did a good job -- we didn't have a problem with her. Were you on second seating?

 

[alenushka]

Bridget - we booked 7/15/12 Canada but I am not sure it's a keeper :


I feel so sad this cruise is over...... Miss our planning together, lists, etc. BTW - where is Deb T.

We ate most of our breakfasts at EG, it was fine, no lines and well organized. We ate breakfast at Cabana only once, and it was really late, around 10:45, and it was fine too. I really loved egg Benedict

Our Celebrity cruise from NJ needs to be changed to a different one as we finally saw K's school calendar and dates for her next spring breaks are different than what we expected. We are looking to book on Celebrity Equinox 4/6/12, unfortunately it will NOT sail from NJ/NY.....We have never sailed with X but reviews are amazing (most five plus stars, four stars are the lowest I saw). I need to set it
really soon because I am not adjusting to reality too well , need another vacation to look forward to.....

 

[alenushka]

Couldn't make the 1st night club tour, but the 2nd night no-one showed so my mum and I did our own club tour then went to seen the rest of Tron.:

Sorry you missed us - we were there....Also Sue and Wendy and her DH were there, as well as our friends.....

 

[guarn3md]

I was one of the first time cruisers and I have to say that we thouroughly enjoyed this cruise experience - so much so we rebooked, with the same room for spring break next year (4/1/12). Having no experience with any cruise line and no previous knowledge of DCL I had nothing to compare it to. Yes I didn't feel it was "Magical" but what I do know if the gleam in Connor and Asia's eyes at everything we did and saw! The Dolphin Encounter at Blue Lagoon Island and the Stingray Experience at CC are unforgettable memories. The pictures we have of Asia and Connor hugging the Dolphins chokes me up whenever I look at it. Knowing that there were 4000 people on the ship and that probably half were kids I didn't go into thinking it was going to be an intimate experience and I think DCL lived up to my expectations. That being said - DCL does not compare to WDW for me...nothing gives me the same feeling as when I walk into the MK for this first time every trip!! We met many new families and spoke to a lot of people about their previous cruising experiences and all gave glowing reports of cruising with DCL, not so much the Dream but just the way their staterooms are done, kids clubs, etc... I wish Connor and Asia enjoyed the kids club more and I think next year it will be more of the same, especially with Connor 4 months away from turning 11 - and I don't think I will encourage him to leave Asia as they really get along well. I am really looking forward to next year cruise for many reasons - most importantly bringing DH along...having two adjoining staterooms and experiencing cruising as a complete family. The worst part of this cruise for us was dinner and our tablemates - it was an undescribeable, horrible experience. On our reservation for next year we requested no tablemates. We loved our dining room server - Claudia - she went above and beyond the call of duty for our family...she felt our pain at dinner! My Dad got along really well with Najim our assistant server. He was from France and my Dad did a lot of work in France through McGraw-Hill back in the day. Our room host, Osbert, was good. He was always around - except for the day he closed Connor's silkies and Asia's blankies in Connor's upper berth. After looking all over the room we had to call guest relations and have someone come unlock the upper berth so that we could be assured all night time blankets were found. Osbert was on his break until 5:30 but as we told Guest Relations that wouldn't do - there was no waiting to see if that is were the lost items were. They sent someone else right away! So as a first time cruiser - I enjoyed the experience...but I think I am too in love with WDW to have expected the cruise to match my feelings of going there!
I miss chatting with you all...
Debbie

 

[lildeb724]

Yeah we did have Mario and Ida. Mario was a hoot, wasn't he?? I loved his spiel every night as he went through his menu recommendations. I thought Ida did a good job -- we didn't have a problem with her. Were you on second seating?

Yes we were second seating....Took forever to get our bottle of wine the second and 4th nights when she was there. Water was scarce and so were drinks...It was awful - we did not complain until the last morning because then it was horrendous. We did not want to get Mario in trouble. did you know it was his first cruise as a waiter on his own.

 

[Disneydrg]

This was our 3rd and 4th DCL vacation. We had Nikola on our b2b and he was fantastic. We had special orders on 4 of the 7 nights and he handled it perfectly. We had Mario and Ida for the 2nd part of our trip and they were good. Ida was not there the first night because of an illness. On the 3rd and 4th nights she was on top of all the orders. Never had to wait for refills. All in all it was a wonderful cruise with family and friends. Already booked for next year on the new ship for the western caribbean.