First time on a cruise - Advice?

[psukardi]

DW & I are going down for Food & Wine Festival in October and decided to start the vacation off with a short 3-day cruise on the Dream to go to Nassau.

Any big advice for a first time cruise? I have dinner reservations @ Remmy's one night and the rest of the time will just go with the flow.

Can anyone provide me some information on alcohol? Can I bring it on board with me? If so, does it have to be confound to the room or can I put it into a flask or something? If not, anyone know anything about prices? I don't plan on drinking non-stop the whole trip; however, I'd like to have my ducks in a row and have a basic idea of what I'll be spending out of pocket on drinking.

Other than that, any tips or things I have to do are really welcome

 

[Disneyfalcon]

You're off to a great start with reservations at Remy's!

You can bring alcohol with you onboard. It needs to fit in your carry ons, they don't want liquid in the suitcases that they handle. Technically it is supposed to be consumed in your stateroom. That's not to say you won't see people walking around with tumblers full of alcohol, etc., that's just what Disney requests. If you bring a bottle of wine to dinner they will charge you a corking fee of $20 per bottle.

Check out the FAQ thread at the top of the forum for lots of information and everyone here is happy to answer questions!

 

[fltink]

How exciting! My advice would be this... Take time to enjoy the ship itself. Have you been to Nassau before? If you have, you may want to skip it and enjoy a rather empty ship. If you have not, decide on one or two things you really want to do, and then save part of the day for ship time. You won't regret it. Nassau can be fun, but you'll have a much more enjoyable beach day at Castaway Cay.

Oh, and board the ship as early as you can! You want to start vacation as early as possible, right???

Don't miss the Sail Away party, at least one show in the theater, and a movie up on deck! Have a blast!

 

[Bolna]

You also asked about drinks prices. They seem to vary. My experience is that the Drink of the Day is the most affordable one (besides the Mimosa which is available at sit down breakfast which for the Dream should be in Royal Court?), it is around 5$. This is usually a fruity drink on the rocks. The other drinks at the pool bar seem to be in the 8$ range or so. The true cocktail bars have some incredibly inventive drinks, they tend to be pricier. I found the drink menus on the (unofficial) Disney Cruise Line Blog very helpful before my first cruise: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/drink-menus/

 

[psukardi]

How exciting! My advice would be this... Take time to enjoy the ship itself. Have you been to Nassau before? If you have, you may want to skip it and enjoy a rather empty ship. If you have not, decide on one or two things you really want to do, and then save part of the day for ship time. You won't regret it. Nassau can be fun, but you'll have a much more enjoyable beach day at Castaway Cay.

Oh, and board the ship as early as you can! You want to start vacation as early as possible, right???

Don't miss the Sail Away party, at least one show in the theater, and a movie up on deck! Have a blast!

My wife has been to Nassau before, so I don't know much time we'll spend there. I'd like to check it out for a bit but don't think I want to spend the whole day off of the boat. It seems like the time on the boat during that time could be a bit more relaxing.

I've heard good things about the shows - I'll try to see at least one and maybe two or three. And depending on what movies are in we might sneak one of those in as well. I'm just looking forward to being in an environment where I can't use my cellphone for a few days. Zero distractions - no facebook - no twitter - no instagram.

 

[psukardi]

You also asked about drinks prices. They seem to vary. My experience is that the Drink of the Day is the most affordable one (besides the Mimosa which is available at sit down breakfast which for the Dream should be in Royal Court?), it is around 5$. This is usually a fruity drink on the rocks. The other drinks at the pool bar seem to be in the 8$ range or so. The true cocktail bars have some incredibly inventive drinks, they tend to be pricier. I found the drink menus on the (unofficial) Disney Cruise Line Blog very helpful before my first cruise: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/drink-menus/

That is what I was looking for! Thank you. That's a nice price range on the drinks.

One last question i didn't see in the FAQS. I heard there was a sports bar/lounge thing on the dream. We'll be on the boat on a Saturday & it's college football season. Any chance they'd be playing the ABC game Saturday night game of the week?

 

[plaz10]

The sports bar has MANY TVs and will probably feature any/all football games - especially ones on ABC

A big tip that I'm happy @Disneyfalcon helped me with was bringing a tumbler. For alcohol or not - the cups they give you at the drink station are tiny. Much easier to fill up the tumbler and not have to make trips to/from the drink station.

 

[fltink]

The big attraction in Nassau is always Atlantis, and it is worth a peek. Personally, we opted out of the excursions on Nassau, and just took a water taxi from the pier to Atlantis. We walked around there on our own for about an hour, took some pictures, and then water taxied it back to the ship for lunch and an awesomely relaxing and quiet afternoon.

 

[EOD K9]

Best tip I can give you is to make sure you relax and enjoy yourself. If you don't see everything on the ship, that's fine. That will only give you an excuse to go on another cruise. I still have over 200 days til my next one.

 

[fltink]

Agreed! I wasn't insinuating that you should try and do everything.... just that you should try and enjoy what the ship has to offer. I frequently hear guests say they wish they spent more time on the ship, so you're sort of ahead of the game by knowing that in advance.

 

[wdwstateofmind]

You can bring as much alcohol as will fit in your carry on. But it has to be carried on. I've carried on a case of wine before with no problem. Put a corkscrew in your suitcase or you will face a uncorking fee each time you need a bottle opened. You can ask that room service bring glassware or just be a champ and use a cup from the deck. They will try to charge you a uncorking fee if you ask room service for wine glasses but you can just call them out on it if they do and you'll get your glassware anyways. If you bring wine bottles to dinner, expect a uncorking fee no matter what.

We're not heavy drinkers, but it's easy to spend $100 between two adults if you plan on having a few martini's each. Their drinks are pretty Manhattan as far as price, but you won't be given a weak one. The beer selection is good too, both draft and bottle. Unless you have a very specific preference to drink, their selection is huge. Only downside I think is bars close a little too early.

 

[rick3236]

One last question i didn't see in the FAQS. I heard there was a sports bar/lounge thing on the dream. We'll be on the boat on a Saturday & it's college football season. Any chance they'd be playing the ABC game Saturday night game of the week?

The Sports bar on the Dream is called "687" and they will feature College Football on Saturday. They have to follow international broadcasting rules, so not all games will be on TV, but you can bet on the ABC and ESPN games being shown. Nice place to relax after a long day and no kids are allowed after 9 PM.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

The Sports bar on the Dream is called "687" and they will feature College Football on Saturday. They have to follow international broadcasting rules, so not all games will be on TV, but you can bet on the ABC and ESPN games being shown. Nice place to relax after a long day and no kids are allowed after 9 PM.

We have watched lots of football, soccer, etc. in the sports bars. It's a great atmosphere!

 

[psukardi]

The Sports bar on the Dream is called "687" and they will feature College Football on Saturday. They have to follow international broadcasting rules, so not all games will be on TV, but you can bet on the ABC and ESPN games being shown. Nice place to relax after a long day and no kids are allowed after 9 PM.

Fantastic. What time do the bars close? Are we talking typical 2AM or are we looking at something closer to midnight? I don't forsee my self up and at the bar that late at night but it's nice to know

 

[wdwstateofmind]

Fantastic. What time do the bars close? Are we talking typical 2AM or are we looking at something closer to midnight? I don't forsee my self up and at the bar that late at night but it's nice to know

I feel like midnight or one...It could have been all the champagne from Pink (highly recommend) that made the time fly.

 

[fltink]

Typically the "dance" club on each ship closes at 2am, though it's quite typical that they are empty by midnight.