daisyx3
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2009
Just returned from a magical (sorry for the cliche LOL) 4 night Dream double dip cruise. I will try to write everything down here in the next couple of days so hopefully it will help someone else. I don't put photos up so you will have to use your imaginations, but don't you want to at least follow long enough to see what happened to Lola and Pablo?
Background: we are both 55; this was our 5th cruise. We took our 3 kids on a Wonder cruise in 2003 and were treated to a 7 night Western by my parents in 2004 for their 50th anniversary, along with my sister's family (and my folks are still kicking at 87 and 89 although they do not travel). In 2016 we took our youngest on a 4 night Dream for his HS graduation because he was "Disney'd out" from the parks. DH and I did a 3 night Fantasy last year to get our grand slam and enjoyed it so much we booked this one onboard.
Pre-trip: I went to Pensacola on 6/14 to visit with my oldest daughter and her family; she had my second grandson 8 days before I got there. After 4 days with my grandsons I flew to Orlando and met my DH who flew from home. We spent one soggy night at WDW at Copper Creek--we had the best view but until the morning it just rained and rained. We did boat over to the monorail resorts, shop at Basin at the GF (my thing) and eat at Kona at the Polynesian. Tiffany Town Car picked us up at 9:15 Wednesday and drove us to PC for our 1030 PAT time. We were in boarding group 2! I was beyond excited. I got a picture with Captain Mickey.
We boarded at 1128 and were in Cabanas by 1138. We always like to eat outside, especially now because NW Ohio has been having twice the usual rain this year and rarely has hit 80 degrees so far; spring has well and truly sucked. The hot humid sunshine was fine with us (my daughter couldn't believe that I sat outside during the kids' naptime since it's so hot down there but I loved it.) We had a pretty leisurely lunch, looked over the navigator, planned our day a little, etc. We went to the online desk and figured out how to make the app work--DH's phone went all black which was new and worried us a little. I was able to google a restart method which worked, thank goodness. Then it was 130 and we went to the room and dropped our carry on--my bag was already there!
We were in room 8684 which is an aft room, our first one. Wow, what a nice room. It did not have full loungers but the location was really great and the verandah had so much room. I started unpacking (DH's bag was there also before 2) and then headed up to the DVC reception.
If you've done the DVC reception I'll save the big description--game, DVC chat/video, game, DVC chat/video, game, DVC chat/video. Free drinks or water. Then a drawing for stateroom credit we never win. In 2016 we got DVC tervis-like cups. Last year we got hats and lanyards during our cruise. This year only hats. It's OK, because we have hats in red, blue and black, but with the price of points now it seems the swag is going in the opposite direction. I would like to try Riviera someday, and Aulani, but since my current points are Disney direct, if I decide to add on it will be resale, thanks.
We went back to the room and I unpacked everything before our safety drill. Our stateroom location was in evolution. It was bright and sunny when we went in but when we came out there were very ominous dark clouds. DH said he'd never seen a sky so dark--and we are from the midwest! We went up to deck 12 anyway but everything came unraveled very quickly. The wind was crazy and partially blew down the "sail away party" banner. The CMs were struggling to hold the frame for the banner up so it didn't blow down on anyone. Quickly they announced (and put a slide on the funnelvison) that the sail away party would be moved inside. Everyone moved toward the stairs--and the CMs were making sure everyone got off of there. I had promised my grandson I'd wave at him on the webcam and that if it rained I would be on my room balcony at the back of the ship, so we went down to our room and I ordered cookies and milk from room service.
The storm turned out to be a huge one. You can look up the 6/19/19 Dream sailaway on the port canaveral webcam site if you want to see it--whitecaps in the harbor, sheets of rain, etc. The ship didn't actually pull out until about 5PM. It was still raining but not pouring. When the ship got close to the webcam I popped out there and waved like a maniac--you can see me on the footage, in a blue hoodie. I found out later he was napping anyway, but I plan to show it to him when he visits later this summer.
Before dinner we stopped at the Cruise Planning desk. I had booked a 7 night Fantasy for the end of May 2020 and wanted to reshop it for the discount and the OBC. I booked about 7 weeks ago and the price had not increased. What he did was get me the last 5E room available for that cruise, and told me to come home and cancel the first booking and put that room # on the new, cheaper booking (plus all the $ I had put down). I did that yesterday so I have my original room choice (5E on deck 10--even when I booked only decks 10 and 6 were open). The booking CM said he has had a few time where people love their 5E rooms and want to book another one but they are all scooped up. From the threads I read it is a love or hate thing. I will put a full review of the room on that thread.
Before dinner we went to 687 for 70s trivia. I scored 39/40, but another woman got 40/40, so missed it by that much. And it was a Bob Marley song...got the artist right but mixed up the title. Same thing last year. I am going to be listening to a lot of Bob Marley next spring!
Dinner on night #1 was in Enchanted Garden. Our server was Constantin and our assistant was Aline from Brazil. They were great. Constantin has been on the Dream since it sailed. He was attentive and funny and we really enjoyed him. Aline brought our iced tea(me) and coke(DH) and had them ready quickly every night from that point, and was very good with refills. We had our own table as requested---DH is very gregarious, but I'm not very social until I know someone for a while, and when we have had table mates I just sit quietly while everyone else talks.
For an appetizer I got the apple smoked bacon wild mushroom tart, which I really enjoyed. DH got the lobster ravioli. We both got prime rib for entrees. We both like orange so we had the orange yogurt cake which we liked as well.
After dinner we walked around a little and I went to the shops and got a new DCL Alex and Ani bracelet. We did not see Golden Mickeys. In fact we were in the room by 1030 and, exhausted, both pretty much crashed. We were looking forward to our first CC day.
Next: CC Day 1--Rigid Hull snorkeling, Pelican Plunge, royal court, and I miss having a paper navigator.
Background: we are both 55; this was our 5th cruise. We took our 3 kids on a Wonder cruise in 2003 and were treated to a 7 night Western by my parents in 2004 for their 50th anniversary, along with my sister's family (and my folks are still kicking at 87 and 89 although they do not travel). In 2016 we took our youngest on a 4 night Dream for his HS graduation because he was "Disney'd out" from the parks. DH and I did a 3 night Fantasy last year to get our grand slam and enjoyed it so much we booked this one onboard.
Pre-trip: I went to Pensacola on 6/14 to visit with my oldest daughter and her family; she had my second grandson 8 days before I got there. After 4 days with my grandsons I flew to Orlando and met my DH who flew from home. We spent one soggy night at WDW at Copper Creek--we had the best view but until the morning it just rained and rained. We did boat over to the monorail resorts, shop at Basin at the GF (my thing) and eat at Kona at the Polynesian. Tiffany Town Car picked us up at 9:15 Wednesday and drove us to PC for our 1030 PAT time. We were in boarding group 2! I was beyond excited. I got a picture with Captain Mickey.
We boarded at 1128 and were in Cabanas by 1138. We always like to eat outside, especially now because NW Ohio has been having twice the usual rain this year and rarely has hit 80 degrees so far; spring has well and truly sucked. The hot humid sunshine was fine with us (my daughter couldn't believe that I sat outside during the kids' naptime since it's so hot down there but I loved it.) We had a pretty leisurely lunch, looked over the navigator, planned our day a little, etc. We went to the online desk and figured out how to make the app work--DH's phone went all black which was new and worried us a little. I was able to google a restart method which worked, thank goodness. Then it was 130 and we went to the room and dropped our carry on--my bag was already there!
We were in room 8684 which is an aft room, our first one. Wow, what a nice room. It did not have full loungers but the location was really great and the verandah had so much room. I started unpacking (DH's bag was there also before 2) and then headed up to the DVC reception.
If you've done the DVC reception I'll save the big description--game, DVC chat/video, game, DVC chat/video, game, DVC chat/video. Free drinks or water. Then a drawing for stateroom credit we never win. In 2016 we got DVC tervis-like cups. Last year we got hats and lanyards during our cruise. This year only hats. It's OK, because we have hats in red, blue and black, but with the price of points now it seems the swag is going in the opposite direction. I would like to try Riviera someday, and Aulani, but since my current points are Disney direct, if I decide to add on it will be resale, thanks.
We went back to the room and I unpacked everything before our safety drill. Our stateroom location was in evolution. It was bright and sunny when we went in but when we came out there were very ominous dark clouds. DH said he'd never seen a sky so dark--and we are from the midwest! We went up to deck 12 anyway but everything came unraveled very quickly. The wind was crazy and partially blew down the "sail away party" banner. The CMs were struggling to hold the frame for the banner up so it didn't blow down on anyone. Quickly they announced (and put a slide on the funnelvison) that the sail away party would be moved inside. Everyone moved toward the stairs--and the CMs were making sure everyone got off of there. I had promised my grandson I'd wave at him on the webcam and that if it rained I would be on my room balcony at the back of the ship, so we went down to our room and I ordered cookies and milk from room service.
The storm turned out to be a huge one. You can look up the 6/19/19 Dream sailaway on the port canaveral webcam site if you want to see it--whitecaps in the harbor, sheets of rain, etc. The ship didn't actually pull out until about 5PM. It was still raining but not pouring. When the ship got close to the webcam I popped out there and waved like a maniac--you can see me on the footage, in a blue hoodie. I found out later he was napping anyway, but I plan to show it to him when he visits later this summer.
Before dinner we stopped at the Cruise Planning desk. I had booked a 7 night Fantasy for the end of May 2020 and wanted to reshop it for the discount and the OBC. I booked about 7 weeks ago and the price had not increased. What he did was get me the last 5E room available for that cruise, and told me to come home and cancel the first booking and put that room # on the new, cheaper booking (plus all the $ I had put down). I did that yesterday so I have my original room choice (5E on deck 10--even when I booked only decks 10 and 6 were open). The booking CM said he has had a few time where people love their 5E rooms and want to book another one but they are all scooped up. From the threads I read it is a love or hate thing. I will put a full review of the room on that thread.
Before dinner we went to 687 for 70s trivia. I scored 39/40, but another woman got 40/40, so missed it by that much. And it was a Bob Marley song...got the artist right but mixed up the title. Same thing last year. I am going to be listening to a lot of Bob Marley next spring!
Dinner on night #1 was in Enchanted Garden. Our server was Constantin and our assistant was Aline from Brazil. They were great. Constantin has been on the Dream since it sailed. He was attentive and funny and we really enjoyed him. Aline brought our iced tea(me) and coke(DH) and had them ready quickly every night from that point, and was very good with refills. We had our own table as requested---DH is very gregarious, but I'm not very social until I know someone for a while, and when we have had table mates I just sit quietly while everyone else talks.
For an appetizer I got the apple smoked bacon wild mushroom tart, which I really enjoyed. DH got the lobster ravioli. We both got prime rib for entrees. We both like orange so we had the orange yogurt cake which we liked as well.
After dinner we walked around a little and I went to the shops and got a new DCL Alex and Ani bracelet. We did not see Golden Mickeys. In fact we were in the room by 1030 and, exhausted, both pretty much crashed. We were looking forward to our first CC day.
Next: CC Day 1--Rigid Hull snorkeling, Pelican Plunge, royal court, and I miss having a paper navigator.
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