Trip Report Dreaming My Way Back to Disney. A First Ever Solo Trip

I’ve been back for over a month now and am finally getting around to writing about one of my best ever Disney trips. I spent 2 nights at All Star Movies, the first time staying here.

This was my first time back at Disney World since January 2020 when I did this:

But, I’m getting ahead of myself because the main part of the trip was…

A transatlantic cruise on the Disney Dream.

This has been a cruise I’ve wanted to take ever since my first cruise 11 years ago, so I was very excited to finally be able to do it.

So the plans were:

October 20th to November 2nd: 13 night Westbound Transatlantic cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale with stops at Vigo (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Ponta Delgada (Azores) and Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.

November 2nd: Brightline train from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando

November 2nd to November 4th: All Star Movies resort only stay with lots of good food, resort hopping and fireworks

And I did all of this completely solo, which as a mum of four was not something I’d had the opportunity to do before.

 

[Tuvalu]

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th October: Southampton

Waking up on embarkation day, the weather was absolutely awful. A big storm had hit the south of England overnight causing lots of local events to be cancelled, and even though the worst of it had gone it was still pretty blustery and rainy. So just the sort of weather you want to be sailing in

This was to be the first cruise for the Disney Dream after coming out of dry dock, so there were a few teething problems.

I live about two hours drive from Southampton, but had still decided to stay nearby the night before because I always get very anxious about possible traffic. My husband, Darren, and three of our daughters stayed with me and they all dropped me off at the port in the morning. I was feeling very nervous at this point as I’ve never travelled solo before.

Even though I’d booked the cruise very last minute I’d been quite lucky and got quite an early port arrival time of 11.30. Check in was a bit chaotic with little signage and very few port workers to help with where to go to get labels and drop off luggage. Luckily other passengers were very friendly and helpful, and I was soon seeing the beautiful atrium again.

And my first Mickey sighting

It was too early for my room to be ready so I headed up to Cabanas via a very puddly pool deck

Just outside Cabanas I bumped into the assistant server from my summer cruise that I’d taken with my two youngest daughters. We had a lovely chat and he was asking after the girls.

The view of the weather in Southampton from Cabanas

Lunch was yummy, especially dessert

I usually like to eat outside at Cabanas but it was far too cold and wet.

There was still work being done on the ship, this would continue throughout the cruise

An empty family hot tub. This was the only day it had water in it, it was roped off for the rest of the cruise

 

[meggo819]

Great start - looking forward to more!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Great start - looking forward to more!

Thank you

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th October: Southampton (cont)

During lunch I’d tried to log on to the cruise line navigator app to check where I was having dinner that evening and what activities were happening that day on the ship. I’d been able to log on as soon as I’d boarded on previous cruises but this time I had a message saying it wasn’t available yet. I didn’t think too much of it at the time just thinking that maybe I was too early.

It was almost 1.30 by now, time for the rooms to be available, so I headed over to mine. I had room 8662 which was a restricted view verandah room right next to the aft staircase. I was a bit apprehensive about the location thinking there might be a lot of foot traffic outside the room but I didn’t hear any noise the whole cruise. And it was very convenient for Cabanas, straight up three decks.

I was a bit puzzled when I first entered my room because my Castaway Club gifts weren’t in there. I should have had these

I noticed then that the number on my room key wasn’t my Castaway Club number, even though it was my correct name. I realised it was probably an issue with my surname, it’s Irish with an apostrophe which computers do not like, and I would need a trip to guest services to sort it out.

I chilled out in the room for a little while but forgot to take room photos. It was almost identical to my room from the summer except it didn’t have the pull down bunk bed, so these photos are from then (with my youngest daughter Lexi in them)

I did take a photo from my restricted view verandah though. I was really pleased with it, the only restriction was the top right corner being blocked off.

A quick trip to guest services next who were very helpful and assured me that I would have my club gifts the next day. They were also able to tell me where I was having dinner because the app still wasn’t working.

Then a wander around the ship to look at what was new.

One of the main changes from the dry dock was the expansion of the concierge area. This included expanding the concierge sundeck on deck 13. Anyone who’s familiar with the Dream will know that previously you could walk a complete loop of the adult sundeck on deck 13. This is no longer the case as the concierge sundeck has taken over some of this space, it has been expanded out on the starboard side and has Perspex walls blocking it off.

So the deck plan is now like this

Looking in through the Perspex

And the view from deck 13

I had to make a second trip to guest services now around now because I’d had a message through saying I didn’t have a credit card on file and would need to pay cash at the end of the cruise. I had definitely set this up at home, I wouldn’t be carrying enough cash for a 13 night cruise. This time it was very busy but eventually I got my credit card set up again.

I noticed a lot of people at guest services had sheets of paper so asked what was going on. It turned out that the navigator app wasn’t working properly for anyone and paper copies were being given out. I found out later that the IT for the ship had had an ’upgrade’ during the dry dock and they were having a few issues with it.

Then time for the muster drill, followed by Piglet getting comfy in the room.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th October: Southampton (cont)

Even though I’d had a few issues so far, I was having a lovely first day. The other passengers I’d met had been really friendly, lots of them were repeat transatlantic cruisers some even on their 6th or more transatlantic crossing. And guest services were so helpful even though they must have been very stressed with all of the IT problems. I was enjoying just having a wander around the ship, not having anything really to do.

I‘d decided against going to the Sailing Away party because it’s usually too crowded for me and headed back to my room instead.

Leaving Southampton

There wasn’t a show in the theatre tonight so more chilling out in the room time for me. I did meet my room host Kirk around this time. He was wonderful the whole cruise, often stopping to chat to me in the hallways. I mentioned to him that I hadn’t had my suitcase yet, it was after 6pm by now and I’d always had my luggage by this time. He did say that he was still getting cases coming up and that I should check back later. Luckily I had a clean shirt and toiletries in my carry on bag so I could get ready for dinner.

I headed down a bit early for dinner because I like to listen to the musicians in the atrium before going in. I’d had problems on my summer cruise with it being so crowded and noisy that I couldn’t hear the music, this time was much different. There were just enough people for there to be a good atmosphere but not too many that you couldn’t hear the music.

The band tonight was called Disney Victrophonics and they were very good, playing jazzy versions of Disney songs. This was the only night they played in the atrium so I’m glad I went to see them. They did play in other venues during the cruise but I didn’t get to see them again.

The woman in red on the left was getting all of the children up to dance, it was fun to watch.

 

[Wicked Sisters]

What a great start. Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

What a great start. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Thanks for following

 

[mpaulam]

Really looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th October: Southampton (cont)

Tonight’s dinner was at 8.15 in Animator’s Palate so I headed over there a few minutes before. As I’m quite introverted and had some bad luck with table mates on past cruises I had requested a private table for dinner so I wasn’t overjoyed when I was shown to an eight seater table. I wasn’t looking forward to being at a dinner table for almost two weeks with seven strangers.

Sitting on my own before the others arrived

And then I met M and K, two other solo cruisers who were absolutely lovely. They were both so easy to talk to and there was no awkwardness at all, it made the dining experience very enjoyable. On that first night we did have one other person with us, she was someone who usually worked on the ship but after that I think she was dining with her friends from the ship. I don’t know why we were at such a big table, maybe there were supposed to be more people with us who didn’t want to do main dining.

I also met our servers for the cruise, Mike and Luis. They were both fantastic the whole cruise.

We had the ‘Let the Magic Begin’ menu tonight rather than the regular Animator’s menu. I had smoked salmon to start followed by halibut and both were delicious.

I‘d also treated myself to the premium wine package. I’d had the regular wine package in the summer and wasn’t particularly impressed with the wines I’d had then so decided I needed an upgrade.

Dessert was Kahlua crème brûlée, so yummy.

 

[erstwo]

This is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

This is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us!

I’m enjoying reliving it. And thanks for following along

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Sunday 20th October: Southampton (cont)

After dinner I headed back to my room and still no suitcase, I was starting to worry a bit now. So trip number three of the day down to guest services. Luckily they found it quickly for me, it was being held just behind guest services and hadn’t been delivered because the label had come off while it was being loaded on the ship. They did offer to have someone deliver the case to my room but now I had it I was keeping hold of it.

The navigator app still wasn‘t working properly, some things were showing up and others weren’t, and a paper copy of the next day‘s activities were delivered to all the rooms that evening.

Tonight’s towel/bedspread animal creation. I think it’s a pig, not quite sure.

I like to go out on my verandah before going to bed just to look at the sea for a while. I could see another ship in the distance.

I was too tired to unpack my suitcase so left it for the next morning as I wouldn’t be in a rush to go anywhere.

Tomorrow would be the first sea day of the cruise. The captain had told us earlier that as we crossed the Bay of Biscay we would be sailing through the tail end of the storm that had hit England that day and we would probably encounter some rough sea conditions. So that was something to look forward to

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

Been waiting for this cruise report.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Been waiting for this cruise report.

Welcome aboard

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st October: A Very Rough First Day at Sea

This day will be a bit word heavy, I didn’t take many photos as I was busy trying not to fall over or

I was awake by 5am, which was really 4am because the clocks had gone forward to Spanish time overnight. There was a definite change in the motion of the ship from the previous evening, it was really rocking a lot and I think this is what woke me up. It did make showering interesting, I had to hold on to the handrail the whole time so that I didn’t slip.

I tried to unpack my suitcase but the combination of the motion of the ship and the bending over and then standing back up again during unpacking started to make me feel a bit ill. I do sometimes get slightly queasy on a ship so I had luckily already taken some bonine, otherwise I think I would have felt a lot worse. I gave up unpacking neatly and just threw everything higgledy piggledy into drawers.

I thought maybe a bit of a walk and something to eat would make me feel better so headed up the three decks to Cabanas. That was the last time I used the stairs that day, the ship was swaying so much I was worried I was going to fall, it was just safer to use the elevators. And all I managed to eat was a couple of bites of melon. I took some fruit back to the room in case I felt like eating something later.

Not long after I was back at the room, there was a special announcement from the captain. It’s unusual to have in room announcements after the first afternoon on board, they’re usually just in public spaces to avoid disturbing people. The announcement was basically to tell everyone to be very careful moving around the ship while we were sailing through the remnants of the storm. The rough seas would be lasting all day and we could expect waves of 25-30 feet.

At this point I decided it was best to just go back to bed for a while. I did set my alarm though because I was hoping to meet up with some other solo cruisers later that morning.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st October: A Very Rough First Day at Sea (cont)

After my nap I was feeling a bit better, although I didn’t feel quite right for the rest of the day. I just felt a bit off and very sleepy all day.

I’d joined a WhatsApp group for solo cruisers and there was to be a meet up at 11 in the cove cafe so I headed off there. The hallways were pretty quiet around the ship and the people I did see were swaying quite a lot. I was definitely glad of the handrails.

It was lovely to meet and chat with the others and nice to know that there were people I could meet up with during the cruise if I didn’t want to be on my own all the time. One of the other cruisers was an ex US Coast Guard and he had some sort of essential oil in a tiny bottle that he suggested people dab behind their ears. It did seem to work for the seasickness.

But the best part of the meet up was getting to meet this beautiful girl called Belle (I took the photo a few days later)

I left the meet up after about an hour because I was finally feeling hungry so I walked very carefully across the pool deck to Cabanas.

First photo taken that day was of my dessert. I think it was coconut flan and raspberry cheesecake.

I decided to try to walk around deck 4 after lunch but that was not a good idea. I went outside through the aft doorway and back in at midship, the ship was still swaying far too much.

You don’t usually see the atrium this empty on a sea day

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st October: A Very Rough First Day at Sea (cont)

I headed back to the room then for another nap, waking up about 4 feeling hungry again. All I did most of the day was snack and nap, lots of people I talked to afterwards did the same that day. I decided to try out the new quick service that was added during the dry dock.

Veggie tacos, delicious. An excellent addition to the quick service options on the ship.

I tried to sit out on my verandah for a while but it was still too blustery, so spent some time watching movies in my room before getting ready for dinner.