Cruising on the Disney Dream

FROM DISNEY WORLD TO DISNEY DREAM…

Last spring break I decided to be adventurous and try something new. I mean we’ve been to Walt Disney World and the kids are cruise veterans as well. But I decided to put the two together starting with a 4 day Disney resort and park vacation and ending with a 4 day, 3 night Disney Cruise Line cruise. It turned out to be such a great choice. We ran the parks from Sunday to Wednesday taking in 1 park a day. The short cruise with a day at Disney’s private islands allowed us to continue our vacation in a more relaxed fashion. Run the parks first…lay in the sun and recuperate while enjoying lighthearted Disney character fun last. The only thing more perfect was that I completely surprised the kids with the cruise part. We packed to leave our hotel Wednesday night and the talk was somber…”Why can’t we spend the rest of the week here?…Wish we weren’t going home yet…”. It was hard to keep it under wraps. I think I made up some whack stories about airfare and fake dentist appointments we had to get back in town for. No one was happy to be leaving the happiest place on Earth to instead spend time in a dentist chair. They looked on in horror at my apparent complete and utter madness. My niece called her mom that night for her nightly check-in and said “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow Mom. SIGHHH!.” Yep, her mom said and hung up. Nope. Thursday morning we went downstairs to wait for our transportation. Transportation the kids thought was taking us to the airport to go home. But I have a sense of humor. I used a fun service you can sign up for online to reveal the surprise via phone call. When one child’s cell phone finally rang, I put it on speakerphone. Mickey Mouse was on the other end of the line announcing to them that they were on their way to a Disney Cruise! The surprise was pulled off perfectly and the faces of glee were priceless. Mission accomplished. Now we were headed off to phase 2 of the vacation.

TRANSPORTATION:

Because we started our spring break trip in Orlando at Walt Disney World, we needed transportation that would get us from our resort to the port in Port Canaveral. I wanted something that would leave at the right time for both hotel checkout and ship boarding AND would be headache free for getting luggage for 4 people where it needed to be. After looking in private transportation for a couple days I stumbled onto the fact that Disney will gladly coordinate a combination theme park/cruise vacation for you. Since we have had such great experiences with Disney’s Magical Express transportation from the airport to the on property resorts I decided to give the cruise transportation a try as well. Let me just say – I am all about headache free. Many people will say that it’s an unnecessary cost and I could use a much cheaper alternative…but for me that is part of Editing My Life. I learned that my time, energy and peace of mind while traveling with children is literally worth the extra expense. The dollars I save won’t be worth the worrying about quality and getting places on time – for me. Ok – Disney transportation makes it seamless! They coordinate with the hotel, sending departure information to your hotel room the day before you leave. Included is information about putting on luggage tags just as you would if you were arriving at the port on your own. It works like this: You place your luggage tags on your packed luggage and leave all bags just inside your hotel room so it’s clearly visible/accessible from the door. The morning of transfer from your WDW Resort to cruise ship, your luggage is retrieved from your room while you are free to head out for last minute fun in the parks, eat breakfast or whatever else you want to do to round up your Disney World trip. You do not have to be there! Luggage is transported to the ship and will appear in your stateroom later. At your designated time, you head down to the lobby of your hotel where representatives will have everyone meet as a group. They’ll escort everyone out to the buses and that is that. All you need to do is sit back and ride to the port. When you arrive you head right into the terminal and your luggage is handled behind the scenes. Disney Cruise Line Transportation from Walt Disney World = solid A.

Ok now let’s touch on the key features that I think make a Disney cruise unique or the things that were just fantastic for our family. Because this ship alternates 3 and 4 night cruises, there isn’t time to explore every single activity and feature – or to get bored with things. I tried to see as much as I could in those 4 short days so I could get a good picture of what we liked about Disney cruise line and what might not be for us. Here we go.

Arrival and Check-In:
We arrived at the port around 1pm-ish. I have to say, the check in process is fine – but it’s one of the few areas I’m going to say Disney could take some pointers from Royal Caribbean on. We got through in a reasonable amount of time, but it didn’t seem as organized…or something. I couldn’t put my finger on it. The terminal does have a really cool large ship model with a cutout side that we loved looking at.

I don’t know. I think the process with the customer service reps just didn’t feel as Disney-tastic as I expected maybe. I guess those are just my expectations so I’m giving our check-in a B. BUT a very nice touch is that when you board the ship your family is announced by name as you enter like walking into a very fancy ball at the palace! (You know how you see that on TV all the time right?) Personalization at its best.

THE SHIP:

The Disney Dream is what you’d probably call very classic. The folks at Disney wanted their ships to be a throw back to old school luxury liner cruise ships. The art deco feeling hallways and atrium really tell that story. It’s a beautiful ship. The multi-story central atrium, where all of the character meet and greets happen, is grand and if you look carefully at all of the railings and other iron work you just might find some classic Disney characters worked in. On the main level (Deck 4), there are also night club areas for both adults only and one for family fun, along with a café area, a movie theatre and show venue.

Deck 5 is kid centered with all of the children’s play clubs spread across this deck. There are also staterooms located around these areas that are geared towards those that want to be deliberately close to the kid club action. The kid’s clubs are all well-appointed, clean and the children seemed to be having a good time. We didn’t have younger children on this cruise as we sometimes do so didn’t use it for firsthand knowledge. What I DID notice is the security. The check in and out is pretty secure and the children wear electronic bands. The very same type of bands that we had just previewed as a new roll out in Walt Disney World.

The pool deck has 2 main pools and separate kiddie water play area along with the show stopping AquaDuck water coaster. Great fun for everyone. There is an adult only pool area with its own adult only café as well.

ROTATIONAL DINING:

Disney does what’s called rotational dining. Your party is pre-assigned to rotate to the 3 dining rooms each evening for dinner.

Remember our cruise was only 3 nights so we ate in each place once. The added personalization to this rotation is that your servers move with you each night. This allows your servers to get to know your family’s preferences while giving you the opportunity to enjoy different scenery. I liked the idea of rotational dining only because the waitstaff moved with us. The three restaurants were all different themes. Our favorite was Animator’s Palate where you could interact with the characters in the “fish tanks” on the walls! I have to admit…when it comes to the food itself – I wasn’t all that bowled over by the quality in the dining rooms each night. I kept waiting for it to get better each time we changed restaurants…nope. It was just – ok.

For breakfast we ate in Cabanas – the buffet, and it was just fine. Typical buffet, plenty of options. Quality of food was far better than the dining room dinners.

On a short cruise, we didn’t have much opportunity to snack at quick serve areas or eat at any of the other restaurants. We did get popcorn a couple times from the snack bar outside the theatre…both for the movie we watched in the theatre one afternoon (Frozen) and to snack on late night in our stateroom. Rotational dining gets an A for great idea. Quality of dining room food…as much as I love all things Disney…this gets a C. Buffet experience: gets a B.

STATEROOMS:

Let’s talk about larger than normal, family friendly, VERY well designed staterooms. While I have my favorite things on other cruise lines…these staterooms are hands down the absolute best in the family cruising category.

Because the rooms are wider than those on other ships and have far more thoughtful storage it made our stay very comfortable. Disney’s sofa and murphy bed designs are just brilliant and are another great space saving feature. The sofa bed does not fold out into the room taking up all of the floor space which makes all the difference in the world. There is a substantial curtain that adults are able to close in between the children sleeping and the main bed area that allowed me to read in bed with my light on late at night long after the younger sailors had drifted off. The main bed is nice and high leaving room for luggage storage with no bed skirt to get in the way. The balcony was very nice as well giving us some added square footage and a place to sit and enjoy the outdoors early in the morning while waiting for everyone to get ready. Speaking of getting ready…The piece de resistance – the double/split bathrooms. GENIUS. No, let me say it again – BEYOND GENIUS. Kudos to you Disney for understanding families with kids and getting it right. Rooms with the split bathroom have one bathroom with a toilet and sink AND a second bathroom with a sink and tub with shower. Anyone with children knows you need a “potty room” and a separate “shower room” when you’re all trying to get ready at once. I’ve never been on a cruise yet and wanted to share a room with ALL of the children. Just keeping it real. Normally I would get 2 adjoining cabins and put the boys in one and my niece and I would share the other. The thought of all of us trying to rest comfortably, have enough space, get dressed in the mornings, share one tiny cruise ship bathroom for a week normally makes my head want to pop off. BUT…when I saw the design on the Disney ship I thought to myself “Self…you need to try it!” And it was all good. It never felt cramped, overcrowded or inconvenient. Staterooms get an A+++ and my BEST FAMILY FEATURE IN THE CRUISE INDUSTRY AWARD.

TEEN & TWEEN CLUB – EDGE & VIBE:

The teen club – known as Vibe – served its purpose. A big teen hangout. The kids could go and listen to or play music, games, video games and meet up with those with similar interests. It’s a getaway. You know, from the adults. Well…ok if you must, Disney run programming is the place to get away to. There are some scheduled activities and free time for kids to do their own thing. The space includes their own sun deck and small pool area on the front of the ship. All good. My teens gave this space and program a solid A -mainly for the nice space and teen excursion offered that I’ll talk about later with Castaway Cay.

The fact that there is a special tween club alone makes all the difference. The electronics, musical programs and other fun activities in Edge draw kids of this age in where ultimately they have the most fun simply hanging out with kids their own age for the rest of the cruise. It becomes a great, safe place for them to meet up and have fun time without parents in tow. Look for the main set of elevators off the atrium space where one of the elevators goes straight up to and opens up into the tween club. There are also steps for access from other areas. My niece is almost never completely satisfied with tween programs. They’re either mixed with younger kids and too “babyish” or the programming misses the mark completely and they’re just not engaging at all. This is the first time she really enjoyed everything about it. EDGE tween program gets a solid A.

PIRATE NIGHT:

In the evenings they slide the pools closed to create a full guest space for all of the events held on board. I have wondered why more cruise ships do not have this feature built-in. It’s a fantastic way to re-purpose space people don’t use during certain hours. AND you have a large outdoor venue that somehow feels less crowded simply because it’s open. This space was fantastic for the Pirate Night fireworks celebration. Pirate Night was a fun high energy stage show with a little Pirates of the Caribbean (Pirates IN the Caribbean!) Jack Sparrow mixed in. Another great opportunity to see and photograph the characters in fun costumes outside of their ordinary classic clothes. Kids (and all) are encouraged to dress up for the evening. The boutique on board is transformed into a pirate makeover shop for the evening and mickey pirate bandanas are distributed to staterooms so everyone can get fully immersed in the theme. The end of the show includes fireworks in the nighttime sea sky. My teenage boys joined me on deck for the show. My tween-age niece joined her friends in the tween club for the show. Everyone reported being entertained and enjoying the fireworks. Pirate Night gets an A from all.

THE PRIVATE ISLAND:

Let’s talk about Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. Again…brilliant. Parents of younger kids have a great beach and water play area to spend the day in. Parents with older children have options for either family time or relaxation. Kids have a large splash play center with water slides and a place to play sand volleyball. Teens have their OWN PROGRAMS AND PLAY AREAS that are fully Disney-fide and safe. Let me say that again – There is a teen club building and outdoor play area right behind the beach area. Teens can be signed up for a special teen only excursion in advance. When you dock in Castaway Cay, you simply drop them off in the teen club on the ship. The club staff takes them out onto the island for a full day of activity – bike riding, canoeing, games and food in the teen area. They can come and join you or say hi to you out on the beach anytime. There are bicycles to borrow for rides around the island, water crafts and tubes to rent. There are other things to do as well, but…we were too busy – 1 child went on teen excursion, 1 child played with tween club friends in the water slide and volleyball area, other child and I laid on lounge chairs reading our kindles for hours. We did come together to eat from the hearty buffet that was served at lunch time in the food pavilion. And yes, it’s another opportunity to see and get photos of or with the Disney characters in unique beach attire. Castaway Cay – SOLID A+. This is the best private island we’ve sailed to yet.

ENTERTAINMENT:

There is plenty to do on board The Dream and all of the areas were nicely appointed. The sports court includes things like miniature golf, a basketball court and ping pong tables. There are clubs that are specifically for family activity and an entire adult night club area called The District for some time to yourselves. Because it was such a short cruise, I didn’t have time for my usual hangouts… like the spa, salon and fitness club. But they are very nice looking as well. Next time! There are many different character meet and greet photo sessions scheduled throughout the day, movies in the Buena Vista Theatre and of course, the stage productions. A little secret…there is even a shop on board where they do pin trading. The kids had their Disney pin lanyards since they have just come from Disney World and were delighted to learn this little tid bit. For us, the Built-In Entertainment Value = A. For such a small ship with such a short itinerary, I think there are many things you won’t even have time to get to. That means no boredom when cruising multiple times.

Ok…I’m just keeping it real, let’s talk briefly about the stage shows. They’re…OK. I know that was pretty anti-climactic right? I am a Broadway, theater, sing it and dance it show kind of girl so I love a good stage show. AND clearly I LOVE Disney parks, characters, vacations…oh I LOVE. IT. ALL. But even I was hoping at least one of the shows on board would not be so heavily Disney-fide. That said, I totally get it. You’re on a Disney ship and this is obviously a very subjective area so I’ll leave it at that. Did we enjoy them? They were as I said…OK. If we sailed this same ship would we go see them again? No. All of my younger travelers gave the shows the same grade – C (because in school C means average). To be fair, children maybe 10 and below would really enjoy seeing these shows so I will bump that up to a B-. Parents…just come prepared to take one for the team.

SUMMARY:

We typically love larger ships so we weren’t sure how we’d feel about The Dream.  And we were worried that it may feel “young”. I chose a short 3 night cruise as our intro to Disney cruising…and it paid off.  We liked it.  All 3 children asked to sail again. And these are not little kids! Tween and teenagers enjoyed the kid’s programming, the ships activities and the private island stop. The staterooms are well appointed and feel a bit less like a tiny cruise accommodation than other lines.  If you’re a Disney resort visitor you’ll recognize the familiar Disney way of doing things – clean, top notch customer service, everything in great condition. Did anything fall short of expectations? Food. Will we sail again? Absolutely! We may eat the buffet more, but it’s not a deal breaker. People ask if it’s “too Disney” for the few people out there that don’t want to be inundated with Mickey Mouse at every turn. You know you’re on a Disney ship…with the character meet and greet activities…but as you can see from the pictures, the decor of the ship and the staterooms are very classic.  You could theoretically hang out at the adult pool and bar area, eat at the adult only restaurant and frequent the adult night club area The District and almost forget you’re on a Disney specific ship.  Almost.  I think anyone can enjoy this ship.  The Dream currently alternates 3 and 4 day cruises.  Its sister ship and the newest in the fleet – The Disney Fantasy sails full week cruises.  Our next Disney Cruise adventure will either be a back to back on The Dream or a week on The Fantasy.

See all of the photos in the Disney Dream In Photos post:  A Disney Dream 3 Day/4 Night Cruise – In Photos http://wp.me/p4MXwY-ej