The cruise to end all cruises (Dream 5/14/15 Concierge)

[cashe]

 

[js]

Welcome back!

Sorry about your ankle! Did you use the gym? Did you see if it was open early morning?

I cannot believe the concierge lounge at Port Canaveral is not big enough and they actually send people away. Terrible. I plan on getting to the
port for approximately 10:00 am, what time did you get there?

We have cabana 25 on SB and don't plan on going to the FB so hope this may be a little better. My trip is Sept. 14 so I'm hoping
most kids will be in school (mine will, although HS and college).

I wanted to get a length of cruise pass for the Rainforest just to avoid people soup. Do you think it is the same in the spa area

Welcome back and happy planning for Hawaii We love it there!

 

[cashe]

 

[cashe]

Welcome back!

Sorry about your ankle! Did you use the gym? Did you see if it was open early morning?

I cannot believe the concierge lounge at Port Canaveral is not big enough and they actually send people away. Terrible. I plan on getting to the
port for approximately 10:00 am, what time did you get there?

We have cabana 25 on SB and don't plan on going to the FB so hope this may be a little better. My trip is Sept. 14 so I'm hoping
most kids will be in school (mine will, although HS and college).

I wanted to get a length of cruise pass for the Rainforest just to avoid people soup. Do you think it is the same in the spa area

Welcome back and happy planning for Hawaii We love it there!

No, let me be clear, the lounge ON the boat!! They will turn you away to cabanas or if your room is ready, (around noon) send you there until you can come back to the lounge.

Gym is open at 6 or 7. DH used it once.

We were at terminal by 1015. They will not open the gates till 1030 to anyone so you will be waiting in a LONG line outside.

The adults areas were packed. Everything was adult soup. That's why i chose not to mess with the spa common areas.

May 14-18 is still school time for most of the US yet TONS of kids. We took our daughter out for a week just to do this cruise. I don't doubt the same will be for any cruise any time (especially the ones you and i are on b/c they are weekend cruises not weekday)

 

[cashe]

Tip: go to sail away on deck 11. there was NO ONE on 11, EVERYONE on deck 12.

I think everyone is reading these boards for tips so now it's all opposite LOL

 

[cashe]

Also, the tide REALLY went out on the main FB Cabana area (not the lagoon, it wasn't impacted)

If you look where that "lifeguard" is standing under the umbrella in front of the volleyball net, to his left, it receded crazily when the tide went out.

Also, SEA LICE! ALL kids in the lagoon were stung badly.

We never made it to SB b/c I just didn't want to have to mess with taking DD to cove then finding a taxi (aka golf cart)

 

[cashe]

oh and you know how they give you the little "pop up cabana' made out of paper the night before your cabana day? yeah, they didn't do that. They came to our room when they saw us coming back from the meet and greet in the concierge sun deck and just handed us papers. I was disappointed. I honestly had a more magical time reading others trip reports than our own.

I wanted to surprise DD with the cabana and she was the one who answered the door to the concierge host giving her papers and telling her what it was.

 

[cashe]

Also, Tip: don't ever come back to these boards or the "other place" and tell anyone you had a "not so magical" cruise because they will rake you over hot coals for trying to help others. Sheesh.

Mental note: Add Disney to "things not to discuss with others: politics, religion, medicine... DISNEY"

LOL

 

[cashe]

Stingray excursion

 

[cashe]

 

[cashe]

Battery operated tea lights I purchased for the bathroom so dd didn't have to fumble for switches.

 

[perditax]

No, let me be clear, the lounge ON the boat!! They will turn you away to cabanas or if your room is ready, (around noon) send you there until you can come back to the lounge.

Gym is open at 6 or 7. DH used it once.

We were at terminal by 1015. They will not open the gates till 1030 to anyone so you will be waiting in a LONG line outside.

The adults areas were packed. Everything was adult soup. That's why i chose not to mess with the spa common areas.

May 14-18 is still school time for most of the US yet TONS of kids. We took our daughter out for a week just to do this cruise. I don't doubt the same will be for any cruise any time (especially the ones you and i are on b/c they are weekend cruises not weekday)

The 9/14 sailing (which I think js is on as well as me) is Monday-Friday. I hadn't considered the days of the week either way, but I'm mentally prepping myself for everything being packed all the time. Did you get a look at Cove Cafe, by the way? (The coffee shop.) I know it's kind of lame, but that's a place we would probably end up spending a lot of time. If that doesn't work out we'll just chill in the room.

A friend on another forum mentioned something about ways to 'zig when everyone else is zagging', I'll have to find her PM, it was a couple of months ago.

Unfortunately it really just seems that the cruise lines are all about packing on as many people as possible, so if you don't do crowds well (and I certainly don't) you either have to pay for something like The Haven on NCL, or upgrade to a line like Crystal. I would have never bothered much with trying to get in a pool on a cruise ship, but at the same time I thought I had a reasonable expectation of places like Cove Cafe being somewhat manageable. And I've seen a lot of pics of the adult pool only having a few people and plenty of loungers. So I've had to reset expectations now. But ... I'd rather know the real deal.

(Oh, and I probably won't bother with 12000 now, but I'm still kind of wistful about a 1bdrm if another bump out popped up.)

 

[cashe]

The 9/14 sailing (which I think js is on as well as me) is Monday-Friday. I hadn't considered the days of the week either way, but I'm mentally prepping myself for everything being packed all the time. Did you get a look at Cove Cafe, by the way? (The coffee shop.) I know it's kind of lame, but that's a place we would probably end up spending a lot of time. If that doesn't work out we'll just chill in the room.

A friend on another forum mentioned something about ways to 'zig when everyone else is zagging', I'll have to find her PM, it was a couple of months ago.

Unfortunately it really just seems that the cruise lines are all about packing on as many people as possible, so if you don't do crowds well (and I certainly don't) you either have to pay for something like The Haven on NCL, or upgrade to a line like Crystal. I would have never bothered much with trying to get in a pool on a cruise ship, but at the same time I thought I had a reasonable expectation of places like Cove Cafe being somewhat manageable. And I've seen a lot of pics of the adult pool only having a few people and plenty of loungers. So I've had to reset expectations now. But ... I'd rather know the real deal.

(Oh, and I probably won't bother with 12000 now, but I'm still kind of wistful about a 1bdrm if another bump out popped up.)

what? you're mon through friday? omg girl i have no idea still what day it is! i just figured out there's no school on monday cause it's a holiday! LOL

I think you would like the lounge over cove cafe. it's right on the middle of the action on deck 11, or so it seemed. the concierge lounge has this AWESOME coffee machine which makes cappuccino, coffee, espresso, tea etc. and they have flavored bottles that you can use to flavor it with.

yes, there are VERY few loungers BY the adult pool that get any sun, and when i say "few" i literally mean 3-4. you can layout up top on deck 12 above the adult pool but it will get pretty hot, there's a bar on 13 that you could walk up to and get a drink or you could walk down and get one. I never really saw anyone there but probably b/c the logistics of laying out up there aren't that great. we just chose to go to our veranda instead as it gave the same view but with free liquor LOL. You can still hear the movies on the funnel vision from there, but not that bad. I actually got sucked into Lion King while waiting for DD to ride aqua duck one afternoon. The only bad part that even on deck 12, sitting down it's kind of hard to see the screen to watch a movie but i can see it being an awesome thing to do at night, we were just EXHAUSTED that late.

 

[cashe]

there's some loungers by the glass where you can see the water. I don't know how busy the deck is during the day at sea, i refused to leave the room. honestly i don't even remember what we did the day at sea besides relax on our verandah. i just didn't have any interest going to the pool area when EVERYONE was stuck on a boat at sea LOL.

Getting on and off the boat at any port was EASY. we NEVER waited in a line to get on or off. that was so nice.

 

[cashe]

Also, cabana 15, although on FB, was so private! it was a very short distance to the lagoon which helped b/c i couldn't walk in the sand and due to vegetation i couldn't see EITHER of my neighbors. We hid out in it most of the day lol. DH mostly b/c he had a NASTY ainus infection by the last day so he slept mostly. DD played in the sand, hammock and lagoon. I thought she would get bored and i don't remember her ever complaining.

i would HIGHLY recommend 15 for an island feel. You don't, however, have much of a view of the ship, if that's what you are after.

 

[perditax]

I'm not actually a suntanner, well you saw my pic, 'whiter than olaf', although I'm wondering if I should pre-tan, kind of worrying about burning. CC day is the one day I expect to be out there in the direct sunlight. TL;DR rather have loungers in shade anyway.

Really my ideal situation, if crowds weren't a question, would be some pool time (i know I won't get it, but I do love swimming), some spa time (hot tub/lounger), and quiet time somewhere comfortable (especially if it's really hot outside) like a cafe or in the room if it comes down to it, we're both big readers. I expect the shows to be pretty corny, since they're geared at kids, but I hear the production values are really good, so I was going to try to see at least one, but I won't wait with the crowd trying to push in when the doors open. I'll also probably try to figure out the ideal time to see whatever summer Marvel comic movie they have on board... like a late showing, and definitely not 3D. (All I really care about with the movies is that I can actually hear and see the movie.) I'm at a point where I would literally rather do the buffet on night one than MDR, except there is no buffet on night one (I know how you feel about buffet, heh), just dreading all those exhausted/overexcited kids and lengthy table service. I'd much rather get in and out and have applebees-quality buffet food. My attention span ain't all that long anyway. So maybe it'll be room service/concierge snacks.

Oh well, lots of time to think about stuff, and I'm glad you're still posting tips. The way you sounded on the last day I expected you to disappear from here.

 

[cashe]

Deck 4, great comfy loungers! PERFECT for reading! IF you don't want to be in your room, it's shaded.

if you upgrade to 1bdr then you an order the food from MDR to your room. The menus are in the concierge lounge.

I BURNED badly! and you've seen me, i'm super dark! But i attribute that to some antibiotics i was on before we left that led to sun sensitivity. I wasn't expecting that! So I kept 50 SPF on my arms, hands and feet (that's where i burned weirdly enough)

(if you don't care to ruin it, you can find all of the productions on youtube LOL. i watched them prior to going and knew it wouldn't be our thing. DD ended up LOVING villains tonight but we were at remy that night and couldn't take her so she watched it in the room.... then rewatched it EVERY night after! I was going to take pictures of all of the movies for you but OMG there are SO many in room movies! nothing that's in theater though but great selection!)

 

[cashe]

OH Merdian bar and outdoor lounge. GO! NO ONE was there. It was so peaceful!

 

[Jessicandice]

This will be our first time going on a Disney Cruise. I really appreciate all the information. Your pictures are great!

 

[js]

OH Merdian bar and outdoor lounge. GO! NO ONE was there. It was so peaceful!

Thank you. Is this the bar by Remy? I think I may go there for sailaway if the bar is open.

Thanks.