cruise questions

[Disneydreamer23]

Hey every one I am planning on booking a cruise I will use KK I have a few questions I am lookng at the Dream Sept 2015 11th 3 night bahamas . I am planning on doing deck 10 with a balcony. Is there a better place in the ship to stay ( front middle end) and I know dining is included but is it like WDW like you get a snack and dinner and lunch? I will be traveling with my DD ( 2) at time my Dh DM and DD Any thing that will help would be great. I am also planning on staying at WDW for 2 weeks after and we drive fromn chicago do we park our car at our resort? Thank you!

 

[englanddg]

Hey every one I am planning on booking a cruise I will use KK I have a few questions I am lookng at the Dream Sept 2015 11th 3 night bahamas . I am planning on doing deck 10 with a balcony. Is there a better place in the ship to stay ( front middle end) and I know dining is included but is it like WDW like you get a snack and dinner and lunch? I will be traveling with my DD ( 2) at time my Dh DM and DD Any thing that will help would be great. I am also planning on staying at WDW for 2 weeks after and we drive fromn chicago do we park our car at our resort? Thank you!

You aren't supposed to be able to leave your car at the resort.

Dining, with the exception if two restaurants, is free, and all you can eat, not credit based, like WDW. However, the fancier restaurants are only available during your assigned dining shift. Deck 10 is fine, and I certainly agree with the decision to get a veranda.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

Thank u!

 

[EOD K9]

Deck 6 and 7 midship is better IMO as you feel less movement from the ship. Deck 10 is also closer to deck 12, hence more noise. Also, room service, buffets, and all meals are free. Palo, Remy, and alcohol get charged to your onboard account. It's almost depressing to go back to WDW after a cruise and have to pay for food. And yes I know you paid for your food in the price, but it just seems so much better without digging in to your pocket every time you want to eat.

 

[rick3236]

I am not a big fan of deck 10 on the Dream, there is a lot of noise from the top deck at all hours. We were midship and heard them setting up deck chairs early in the morning and stacking them up late at night every day of our cruise, plus during the daytime there is noise from the guests walking right above you.

 

[flynnibus]

I've stayed midship deck 10 (10078 and 80) and while there is noise... no one in our family found it disturbing. The main offender was moving chairs in the AM (never heard it at night.. but we don't hang out in the room) and the pirate party itself (music bass).

I'd take the access to Deck 11 over any noise complaints. The other parts of the ship have their own issues of vibration, more movement, etc. We've booked midship and Deck 10 again even on our next cruise this fall.

The only time we used the elevator was to goto Dinner or the atrium. Waiting for the elevator is much more a PITA than random noise IMO. YMMV

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Hey every one I am planning on booking a cruise I will use KK I have a few questions I am lookng at the Dream Sept 2015 11th 3 night bahamas . I am planning on doing deck 10 with a balcony. Is there a better place in the ship to stay ( front middle end) and I know dining is included but is it like WDW like you get a snack and dinner and lunch? I will be traveling with my DD ( 2) at time my Dh DM and DD Any thing that will help would be great. I am also planning on staying at WDW for 2 weeks after and we drive fromn chicago do we park our car at our resort? Thank you!

When choosing a stateroom the best advice is to look at deck plans and take note of what is above, below, and beside your room. Is there a night club below you? Prob'ly gonna be loud late into the night. Are you below a busy pool deck? You'll prob'ly hear people moving around during the day. Also look at accessibility to elevators, stairs, etc. My personal non-concierge level favorite (I've cruised on Disney's newer ships 5x all in various verandah staterooms in various locations) would be the 04E staterooms. I enjoyed the bigger verandah, quiet and convenient location. Another consideration, if you want to look out over the guest areas while docked at Castaway Cay you'll want to select a room on the starboard side of the ship.

Aside from the upcharge fine dining venues and some of the upcharge snack options near the theaters & via room service, the Cove Cafe specialty coffees, or bar drinks food & drinks are available to you at no additional charge 24 hrs a day. You have to let go of the parks mindset. Breakfast & lunch will have 1 of the table service venues open as well as the buffet. Throughout the day the walk-up counter-service places are open. Dinner you'll have your assigned main dining room. The buffet venue will be an option on your 2nd night only. (It's not open the first or last night of any sailing so on a 3-night cruise night 2 is the only one available.) The walk-up windows will have food until like 11:00 or midnight. Room service is 24 hrs. It doesn't have the most extensive of options but it's good. We love the BLTs and fries. Also, if you order room service it's nice to tip whoever brings you the food a couple dollars depending on how much you ordered. We keep an envelope of $1 bills for this purpose. Believe me, on the cruise you will not have to go far or look hard for food at any given time.

If you're driving from Chicago to WDW you can easily drive yourself on out to the port. There's like $5 in tolls each way between WDW & the port. It's not a difficult drive at all. Very easy to navigate. You can park right at the cruise terminal for convenience. Parking for a 3-night cruise will cost you $60 in Disney's structure. To me, it's worth the extra cost for the convenience. Check out this page for driving instructions & info. Then when your cruise is over you can drive yourself right back to WDW & park at your resort there for the next 2 weeks.

Good luck and happy sailing!

 

[Disneydreamer23]

Thank u for all the info!!

 

[5thGenTexan]

When choosing a stateroom the best advice is to look at deck plans and take note of what is above, below, and beside your room. Is there a night club below you? Prob'ly gonna be loud late into the night. Are you below a busy pool deck? You'll prob'ly hear people moving around during the day. Also look at accessibility to elevators, stairs, etc. My personal non-concierge level favorite (I've cruised on Disney's newer ships 5x all in various verandah staterooms in various locations) would be the 04E staterooms. I enjoyed the bigger verandah, quiet and convenient location. Another consideration, if you want to look out over the guest areas while docked at Castaway Cay you'll want to select a room on the starboard side of the ship.

Aside from the upcharge fine dining venues and some of the upcharge snack options near the theaters & via room service, the Cove Cafe specialty coffees, or bar drinks food & drinks are available to you at no additional charge 24 hrs a day. You have to let go of the parks mindset. Breakfast & lunch will have 1 of the table service venues open as well as the buffet. Throughout the day the walk-up counter-service places are open. Dinner you'll have your assigned main dining room. The buffet venue will be an option on your 2nd night only. (It's not open the first or last night of any sailing so on a 3-night cruise night 2 is the only one available.) The walk-up windows will have food until like 11:00 or midnight. Room service is 24 hrs. It doesn't have the most extensive of options but it's good. We love the BLTs and fries. Also, if you order room service it's nice to tip whoever brings you the food a couple dollars depending on how much you ordered. We keep an envelope of $1 bills for this purpose. Believe me, on the cruise you will not have to go far or look hard for food at any given time.

If you're driving from Chicago to WDW you can easily drive yourself on out to the port. There's like $5 in tolls each way between WDW & the port. It's not a difficult drive at all. Very easy to navigate. You can park right at the cruise terminal for convenience. Parking for a 3-night cruise will cost you $60 in Disney's structure. To me, it's worth the extra cost for the convenience. Check out this page for driving instructions & info. Then when your cruise is over you can drive yourself right back to WDW & park at your resort there for the next 2 weeks.

Good luck and happy sailing!

Is the verandah just larger or is there more space in the cabin itself?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Is the verandah just larger or is there more space in the cabin itself?

The description on the website says the 04E on the new ships is the 299 sq ft size. Those typically have the big round tub/shower. Our stateroom was on deck 5 forward, port side (it was an assign VGT room, we didn't choose it). The room was definitely not the 299 sq ft. and we didn't have the larger tub/shower. We've been in a 299 sq ft room before. The 04E wasn't like that. The room was more like the 246 sq ft room but with the oversized verandah. The verandah was fabulous. There was an overhang from deck 11 above us so when it rained we could still sit outside. It was really nice. On deck 5 we were right down the hall from the Buena Vista theater and steps away from the lower levels where the shops, restaurants, atrium, etc. are all located. It was nice. Very nice. I'll see if I can go grab some pics to edit in.

The overhang looking up.

This is taken standing at the slider door looking towards the entry door. If this was a 299 sq ft room the wall on the other side of the bed would be curved, there would be empty space with a cushy chair on the right between the end of the sofa & the window, and the desk on the left would be much longer.

 

[5thGenTexan]

This is just the new ships, right? I don't remember the cruise it was, but when ya'll did the concierge thing... Did that have a larger verandah?

Last time on the Magic we had cabin 7604. It was starboard side and just forward of the aft elevators. I did not notice any real noise problems. For out upcoming cruise on the Wonder I requested the same cabin. I was able to jump up two flights of stairs and be at Topsiders and the drink station, or go down a few floors for dinner at Animator's and then Parrot Cay. So, as far my gut was concerned... we were in a prime spot.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

This is just the new ships, right? I don't remember the cruise it was, but when ya'll did the concierge thing... Did that have a larger verandah?

Last time on the Magic we had cabin 7604. It was starboard side and just forward of the aft elevators. I did not notice any real noise problems. For out upcoming cruise on the Wonder I requested the same cabin. I was able to jump up two flights of stairs and be at Topsiders and the drink station, or go down a few floors for dinner at Animator's and then Parrot Cay. So, as far my gut was concerned... we were in a prime spot.

Yes, that was on the Fantasy. It's the newer ships. We've sailed the 1-bedroom suites on the Magic twice & the Dream once. It was on the Dream that we had the extra large verandah with the suite because we ended up on the bump-out. See the picture above where I looked up and there's that *bump* above me? That's the bump-out. There's only 4 of the 1-bedroom suites situated on the bump-out on each of the new ships. On the Magic & Wonder the verandah in the 1-bedroom suites is the same standard depth but twice the length.

 

[stalkingmickey]

9526 5A!! loved being on Deck 9 forward! But we are just two adults so the easy access to the adult areas what perfect! and we were two levels below any public decks.