Disney Dream

D

deblen4

Member
We have a holiday planned for Disney World from May 4-13, but I noticed online yesterday that they had some good rates on the Disney Dream for the 3 night cruise on May 10. ; I cancelled our last 3 nights at OKW and booked the Dream cruise. ; We have cruised with RCL and Celebrity, but I've always wanted to try Disney having heard that it is a lot better. ;
Has anyone cruised the Dream or with DCL that has any recommendations? ; As it is only 3 nights we are going to Nassau, which we've seen before ; but haven't been to Castaway Cay or experienced the Disney cruise dining either. ; Is it worth the extra for Remy or Palo? ;
We are also undecided as to whether to book the transfers with Disney (from OKW on the way and then back to the airport on the return) ; Our flight does leave later in the day so we are debating whether it is worth renting a car, possibly both ways so we can arrive earlier for the cruise? ;
I would appreciate any suggestions or comments.
Thanks - really excited to be doing the cruise, and we are also trying out a balcony for the first time! ; ;D
 
Congrats on your booking!!!! ; Your gonna luv the Dream.... ; We have been on several Disney cruises and I can probably answer alot of questions you may have. ; First off, on a 3 nighter don't bother booking Palo or Remy's (at this point you probably wouldn't get in anyway). ; You wanna experience the other 3 restaurants first! ; Animators Palette will blow you away and the food is outstanding in all. ; Second, you wanna make sure you get to see all the shows in the Walt Disney theatre. ; Third and most important is you wanna make sure you get off the ship nice and early at Castaway Cay and enjoy the whole day on the island. ; The place is absolutely beautiful!!!! ; Fourth, don't waste your time or money booking excursions in Nassua, get off the ship for a bit and walk around for an hour or two, but because your on a 3 day that is an opportunity to taking advantage of all the ship has to offer when everyone else is off. ; Especially riding the Auaduck (a must, at day and in the dark at night). ; You will be over welmed with what the ship has to offer make the most of your 3 nights. ; Please if you have any questions please ask?
 
Thank you for all of the information! ; You have answered many of my questions. ; We are at Disney World before the cruise and are debating about whether to rent a car, or use the Disney bus transfer to get to the port for the cruise and then back to the airport to fly home. ; The price they quoted is $35 per person, each way, which isn't bad. ; Just doing a quick search for a rental car is about $50 for the day (probably doesn't include gas - and only me and hubby) so not sure it is worth the hassle to rent ; a car. ; I haven't booked it yet, but they said you will be notified of your pick up time the day before your departure for the cruise. ; I'd like to get there early, but don't know whether the car rental will get me there much earlier than the Disney bus? ; ; Have you had any experience with the Disney transportation to the port? ; We always use Magic Express and then the Disney transportation to get around while at Disney. ;
Our flight on Southwest back to Buffalo leaves MCO at 4 pm, so they did indicate that the bus transfer would get you back to the airport mid-morning, so it's a long wait for a flight? ; I might get a rental for this leg of the trip, just to allow us more freedom to either visit Cocoa Beach or go back to Disney for a few hours? ; My husband considers it more of a holiday if he doesn't have to drive (and follow my nagging navigating)
Also wondered what the 'adult' areas of the ship are like? ; Can you get a chair by the adult pool without being there at 8 am? ;
Thank you very much for the expert advise!
 
Now that I have your 'ears' ; I will be sending questions! ; They asked me which dinner seating and we have 8 pm, but on other cruises I was always asked about table size (did we want to be seated with a large group or small)? ; They didn't ask this so how do they usually seat people. ; I know you change restaurants each evening, do you sit with a group that will stay together at each restaurant?
Was boarding efficient, or if you are there early do you wait for hours?
I heard the rooms are awesome and a lot larger than other cruise ships. ;
Did you experience long waits for the Aqua Duck? ;
Thank you again!
 
We have done both. ; Magical Express from the resort to the port is fun! Great vibe and your there in just over an hour. ; The draw back is you really have no control of what time you will get to the port or what time you get for a boarding time (note: during your online check in, do it early o you can chose a early embarkment time. ; I believe 11am is the earliest.
I have started to prefered renting a car (we get great rates out of www.rentalcars.com ) it gives me more flexibility of what we can do. ; You can get one way rentals or rent it for your entire trips and pay for parking at the terminal ($15 a day). ; it costs a little more but its worth it. ; You get on the ship first thing! And then during disembarkment they try and get you off really early if you taking the bus (ie 7am) so they can clear the ship. ; If you have a car you can take your time at breakfast, enjoy the morning a little more without feeling rushed. ; If you have the rental parked, you just walk out and the car is there. ; Beautiful!
Thats what we will be doing in August..


"deblen4" said:
Thank you for all of the information! ; You have answered many of my questions. ; We are at Disney World before the cruise and are debating about whether to rent a car, or use the Disney bus transfer to get to the port for the cruise and then back to the airport to fly home. ; The price they quoted is $35 per person, each way, which isn't bad. ; Just doing a quick search for a rental car is about $50 for the day (probably doesn't include gas - and only me and hubby) so not sure it is worth the hassle to rent ; a car. ; I haven't booked it yet, but they said you will be notified of your pick up time the day before your departure for the cruise. ; I'd like to get there early, but don't know whether the car rental will get me there much earlier than the Disney bus? ; ; Have you had any experience with the Disney transportation to the port? ; We always use Magic Express and then the Disney transportation to get around while at Disney. ;
Our flight on Southwest back to Buffalo leaves MCO at 4 pm, so they did indicate that the bus transfer would get you back to the airport mid-morning, so it's a long wait for a flight? ; I might get a rental for this leg of the trip, just to allow us more freedom to either visit Cocoa Beach or go back to Disney for a few hours? ; My husband considers it more of a holiday if he doesn't have to drive (and follow my nagging navigating)
Also wondered what the 'adult' areas of the ship are like? ; Can you get a chair by the adult pool without being there at 8 am? ;
Thank you very much for the expert advise!
Click to expand...
 
This is where your gonna luv DCL! ; They are soo different than other cruiselines when it comes to dinning and there rotational dining. ; Early or late sitting doesn't really matter, personal preference. We've done both and now chose early since we have a 4 year old. ; You can request to be seated alone or with a group, your choice. ; Even in a group the table size are not to big. ; We were shocked on Carnival how big the table sizes were and how few staff there was serving you.(We hated Carnivals dining experience. ; I think DCL has spoiled us). ; DCL dining is a very intimate experience. ; Your servers will only handle a small group of people, therefore there is alot of personal touches to your dining. ; And with your dining rotation your servers will follow you and your rotation. ;
Boarding is very efficient! ; Again its Disney.... ; Rooms are beatiful, especially on the Dream.
The Aquaduck....tough question. ; On a 3 night cruisem yes it can get very busy thats why you need to do it on the off peak times early in the morning, late at night, Castaway or Nassua day. ; But is a MUST to do!
Another great waterslide is on Castaway Cay. ; They have a floating raft with 2 water slides on it. ; OMG these are so must fun!!!! ; The secret for those is head for them first thing in the am as soon as you get off the ship. ; I can you usually get my fill of them in under a hour. ; Another great thing to do on Castaway is rent snorkel equipment and snorkel on there artificial reef. ; Promise you will see cool things including Mickey!

"deblen4" said:
Now that I have your 'ears' ; I will be sending questions! ; They asked me which dinner seating and we have 8 pm, but on other cruises I was always asked about table size (did we want to be seated with a large group or small)? ; They didn't ask this so how do they usually seat people. ; I know you change restaurants each evening, do you sit with a group that will stay together at each restaurant?
Was boarding efficient, or if you are there early do you wait for hours?
I heard the rooms are awesome and a lot larger than other cruise ships. ;
Did you experience long waits for the Aqua Duck? ;
Thank you again!
Click to expand...
 
Almost forgot to answer your request regarding the adult pool section. ; Again a beautiful place to hang out and we have never had a problem find a place to sit or get a lounge. ; Throughout the day they have live entertainment there and its really nice to just relax in or out of the pool and listen to live music!
Now you gotta me thinking can't wait for August (OK, I will actually be on the Magic in June sailing out if NYC yeah!!!)
 
Thank you so much for all of the information! ; I've got some research to do and decisions to make. ; If I run into any other questions I will post them here. ;
As we have cruised RCL and Celebrity it will be interesting to see the difference between cruise lines. ;
Thank you again. ;
 
I've searched seriously for a car rental using various dates and did get the lowest rates at rentalcars.com but nothing was a reasonable price, or anywhere near using the transfers for $35 each way. ; I didn't want to use the transfer back to the airport on Sunday at the end of the cruise because we would be spending about 7 hours waiting at the airport. ; So to avoid that I just booked another night back at Old Key West for one night. ; Southwest changed my flight from Sunday to Monday at no charge, booked a room at OKW for Sunday night and booked ; the ; Disney transfers from and to OKW before and after the cruise, and magic express back to the airport. ; So all resolved! ;
So now it is just researching a few fun items, what to do on Castaway Cay (snorkeling is probably our first choice). ; We are mostly looking forward to experiencing the restaurants and exploring the ship and riding the aquaduck! ; I need to review my existing reservations at Disney World and should be all organized at that point. ;
Thank you again realfam for all of the recommendations. ; I will report back on my experience. ; ; 8)
 
Glad to hear you booked OKW and ME transportation. ; Like I said both options are good. ; The fun part of taking the bus is the vibe going out to the port. ; Everyone is soooo excited!!! ; (for good reason) ; Not sure if you have stayed at OKW before but its a wonderful resort and we always enjoy taking the boat to DTD.
Enjoy planning....


"deblen4" said:
I've searched seriously for a car rental using various dates and did get the lowest rates at rentalcars.com but nothing was a reasonable price, or anywhere near using the transfers for $35 each way. ; I didn't want to use the transfer back to the airport on Sunday at the end of the cruise because we would be spending about 7 hours waiting at the airport. ; So to avoid that I just booked another night back at Old Key West for one night. ; Southwest changed my flight from Sunday to Monday at no charge, booked a room at OKW for Sunday night and booked ; the ; Disney transfers from and to OKW before and after the cruise, and magic express back to the airport. ; So all resolved! ;
So now it is just researching a few fun items, what to do on Castaway Cay (snorkeling is probably our first choice). ; We are mostly looking forward to experiencing the restaurants and exploring the ship and riding the aquaduck! ; I need to review my existing reservations at Disney World and should be all organized at that point. ;
Thank you again realfam for all of the recommendations. ; I will report back on my experience. ; ; 8)
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Yes we have stayed at OKW and love it there. ; Always quiet and not too far from some of the parks. It's always a nice option to take the boat to DTD for a meal or shopping. ; We are DVC members so I wanted to use my points and didn't have a lot of selection left, Kidani, OKW or Saratoga. ; OKW was the fewest points and as we will probably spend Sunday eve at Epcot I think it is the closest? ;

Have you stayed in a verandah stateroom? ; I don't know what room we will be in as I booked the GTY - stateroom guarantee, but they assign the stateroom I think just a week or two before the cruise. ; I am really looking forward to having coffee out on my verandah in the morning as we have never gone to the extra cost of a verandah. ; Are all the rooms in this category relatively the same? ; I see some information which indicates that some have a 'white wall'? ; ;

Also, the ship 'parks' at Castaway Cay and no tender, what time are you usually there that you can leave the ship? ; Do they ever cancel this stop due to weather? ; I have been on a RCL cruise when they cancelled the stop at their island Coco Cay because of rough seas, but they tender.

Any info is appreciated. ; Thank you!
 
Yeah...more DVC members (were members too). ; Make sure when you get on the ship to go by the DVC desk and let them know your on board and that your member. ; They host a member party and you will receive plenty of freebies including more hats that you can only get on the ship.
Yes, we had a verhandah when we did the Transatlantic cruise. ; Its very nice to have coffee delivered in the morning and sit and relax watching the sea go by. ; The rooms are pretty much the same (just different locations of the ship), and they are pretty stunning. The beds are out of this world, my wife wants to bring one home! ; You'll love the staterooms! ; Each staterooms has 2 wave phones that are cordless and you can carry them with you anywhere on the ship and call or text each other if your doing different activities. ; Way cool!!!
Again its Disney, so there is no tendering....DCL has there own pier at Castaway. ; You can walk or catch the tram to the beaches. ; Cookies BBQ (the restaurant on the island) has 2 locations and if you like spare ribs, your in for a treat, their my favourite! ;
Everyday you will receive a "Navigator" (printed program), with all of the ships events. ; Make sure you read it and check the times. ; Its impossible to do everything so you will need to pick and choose. ; They have a FULL 3D movie theatre on board the ship. ; We got to watch the latest Pirates of the Carribean in 3D, again too cool.
Important you go to the Pirate night party and catch the fireworks off the ship. ; They put on a buffet where you can get Disney famous turkey legs.......and one the coolest things I think I have ever done is after the Pirate deck party they play Pirates of the Carribean on the big screen outside on the top deck, so you can watch Pirates of the Carribean while sailing thru the carribean.....



"deblen4" said:
Yes we have stayed at OKW and love it there. ; Always quiet and not too far from some of the parks. It's always a nice option to take the boat to DTD for a meal or shopping. ; We are DVC members so I wanted to use my points and didn't have a lot of selection left, Kidani, OKW or Saratoga. ; OKW was the fewest points and as we will probably spend Sunday eve at Epcot I think it is the closest? ;

Have you stayed in a verandah stateroom? ; I don't know what room we will be in as I booked the GTY - stateroom guarantee, but they assign the stateroom I think just a week or two before the cruise. ; I am really looking forward to having coffee out on my verandah in the morning as we have never gone to the extra cost of a verandah. ; Are all the rooms in this category relatively the same? ; I see some information which indicates that some have a 'white wall'? ; ;

Also, the ship 'parks' at Castaway Cay and no tender, what time are you usually there that you can leave the ship? ; Do they ever cancel this stop due to weather? ; I have been on a RCL cruise when they cancelled the stop at their island Coco Cay because of rough seas, but they tender.

Any info is appreciated. ; Thank you!
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It sounds so awesome! ; Wish I had booked a Disney cruise longer than 3 nights! ; Hopefully we are both very happy with this initial cruise and it won't be our last Disney cruise. ;
Thanks again for the info. ;
If we have the transfers booked through Disney and we are going leaving from and returning to Old Key West. ; Do they handle our luggage? ; I wasn't sure if it worked like Magic Express. ; When we get off the ship will the bags travel right back to our room at OKW, or we will get it off the bus and check in?
 
Its basically Magical Express for the ship. ; Works the same.

"deblen4" said:
It sounds so awesome! ; Wish I had booked a Disney cruise longer than 3 nights! ; Hopefully we are both very happy with this initial cruise and it won't be our last Disney cruise. ;
Thanks again for the info. ;
If we have the transfers booked through Disney and we are going leaving from and returning to Old Key West. ; Do they handle our luggage? ; I wasn't sure if it worked like Magic Express. ; When we get off the ship will the bags travel right back to our room at OKW, or we will get it off the bus and check in?
Click to expand...
 
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