Trip Report Fourteen months later anniversary cruise trip report!

Hello, once again, WDWMagic family! I'm back with yet another trip report. Yes, I am aware that I literally just finished my last TR. Yes, I'm aware that it took me three months to finish even though it was a six day trip. Good news! This trip was only three and a half days, so it should only take me a month or two! Okay, well, I'll try to be a little quicker...

Intro

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Tracy! I'm a 25-year-old pixie dust snorter and I drag my husband along for fun!

This was, in theory, our one year anniversary cruise, though our anniversary was actually on December 21, 2013 (if you're not familiar with our Disney wedding and 16 day Disneymoon, feel free to check it out!). So, you might be thinking, "Tracy, why are you going on your anniversary cruise two months late?" Well, since you asked, I'll let you in on a piece of my life.

My husband, Coda, is a US Merchant Marine. Because of his awesome job, he's often gone for several months at a time. In fact, any time he works he's gone for several months. This time he was gone from the middle of October until the middle of February. This put quite a damper on our plans! For one, our anniversary, like I've said, was in December. The other issue was that we weren't able to go on our trip until he got back, in the middle of February. This just happened to fall in the middle of the school year and meant we would only be able to book a three night cruise. But beggars can't be choosers, right?

We actually had to book and reschedule our trip several times because Coda's schedule continually changes while he's out. His return date changed from the middle of January to the beginning of February to February 19th. @Disneyfalcon was so incredibly helpful in getting it all worked out! I couldn't have done it alone. Here are the details:

Ship: Disney Dream
Dates: February 20th - 23rd
Stateroom: 6560 (mid ship)
Itinerary: Port Canaveral, Nassau, Castaway Cay, and back!

So, without further ado, I give you our one year anniversary cruise trip report (starting tomorrow )!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Oh yay!! Can't wait to follow along!!

 

[FlaggNL]

Hej congrats with the anniversary!! Also following and waiting for the rest

 

[rufio]

Day One

Getting there was, in itself, quite a feat. You see, Coda was supposed to be home days ahead of time. In reality, he got home the morning we were leaving (the 19th)... I left to pick him up at the airport around 8am. His plane landed at 9, so we got back to our house around 10. He quickly packed (luckily, he had washed all of his clothes on the ship!) and we were in the car by noon. We stopped by my mom's work (she's a nanny) so Coda could say hi and bye, grabbed lunch, and hit I-40! The plan was to drive to Jacksonville, spend the night, and drive the rest of the way in the morning. So that worked out thanks to A LOT of energy drinks and coffee. We spent the night at the Best Western Jacksonville. Please, no one else stay there. There was hair on the shower walls... I have a thing about clean sheets. I cannot deal with stains, even at my own house. Both beds had stained sheets - BOTH of them. I slept pretty much fully clothed and I don't think I moved at all. I just can't handle it, guys! Anyway, I did sleep and we made it through the night. Whether rational or not, Disney hotels make me feel clean and safe. Thanks, Disney Bubble!


Day Two

The next morning we were up at 8am and having our free continental breakfast at 9. It was pretty standard hotel fare - cereal, boxed eggs, cold waffles - but it was mostly edible. Finally, we were on the road!

Our designated time to arrive was 12:45. We arrived at the parking lot (not at the terminal) at 11am. The total cost to park our car was $37 (vs $60 at the terminal) and we took the free shuttle over. We sat next to a sweet old couple who were celebrating their 50th anniversary! Our driver was really friendly and we talked with him for awhile during loading. Overall, it made for a pretty good start to our cruising experience, even if it wasn't Disney. This was our first view of the Disney Dream:

So exciting!!! I couldn't believe how big (tall) the ship was! By 12:30, we were through security and waiting in line to check in. A lady with a clipboard asked if we were DVC or Castaway Club members. We told her we were DVC, she checked us off on a list, and gave us Vacation Club lanyards. The check-in process was quick and painless, and in no time we were in line, waiting to board the ship! This guy was waiting just before we went through:

Coda had been DYING to see Frozen, and I'd been waiting to watch it with him. We assumed we'd end up having to watch it at home once it came out on blu ray... More on that later! Here's Coda getting ready to board:

He had literally just gotten off the oil tanker the day before, but he was excited to get on the Dream! We walked onto the ship and were greeted by several cast members. One asked for our name and we told them. As we entered the lobby, we heard a welcome to "the Russell party!" A little touch of Disney magic? I love it! We were both stunned by what we saw when we got inside.

Coda has cruised once before. It was a cruise that an ex-girlfriend (who we won't speak of) won - some kind of timeshare thing. It had completely turned him off to cruising. But once we stepped aboard the Disney Dream, his jaw almost hit the ground. He would continue to tell me how different it was throughout the duration of the cruise.

We were told that lunch was being served at Castaway on deck 11 (I believe it was deck 11), so that's where we went next. As soon as we got off the elevator, we were met with a CM holding the drink of the day. He explained to us that once we bought the cup it would be $4.50ish per day. You don't have to tell us twice about cheap drinks!

And it was delicious! It was a Bahama Mama (something with grenadine and coconut rum). Coda may or may not have gone back for seconds. We piled our plates high from the lunch buffet. Best buffet I've had in awhile! Much better than Golden Corral! I think this look says it all:

By this time, we had been told our room should be ready. As we started heading that way, however, we ran into Pluto!

First and only character M&G of the trip! There was time for one last photo op before we got to our room...

And he didn't even want to go. Can you tell how miserable he is?

Our room was on deck 6, mid ship, with a verandah and a split bath. It was awesome! Plenty of space, for sure! We had gotten the romance package, so there were lots of goodies waiting for us...

Our bags hadn't arrived yet, so we quickly changed clothes out of our carry on and headed to the DVC welcome party!

It was basically a timeshare presentation to get us to buy even more points, but at least there were free drinks and free gifts. We got a DVC bag, new pins, hats, and Coda won me a DVC tumbler. Next we had to go to the mandatory lifeboat drill. I understand why it's necessary, but it just seemed like a madhouse. I guess we knew where to go in case of an emergency, at least!

Finally, it was time to go back on deck for the sail away party. Instead of actually participating in the activities, we wandered around the deck. My husband is a Merchant Marine, so of course he had to check everything out. So excited for the Aqua Duck!! And he had to point out all the parts of the ship.

Coda saw this and was a little jealous of the youngins

By this time, the night's show and dinner were drawing near. We headed back to our room where our bags had been delivered! We met our stateroom host, Jorge, and got ready for the night's activities! The first evening's show was The Golden Mickeys. No photos allowed, but it was amazing! At the end, golden Mickey heads fell from the ceiling and I grabbed a ton for scrapbooking later! After the show, we looked around the shops and stopped by Shutters before dinner. We went to inquire about a photo shoot, but no one seemed to know anything and we were asked to come back later. With no luck there, we checked in at The Royal Palace for dinner.

Our servers, Pogi and Eak, were both superb! Such nice men and extremely attentive! The restaurant itself was beautiful! We didn't get any pictures of that... Not sure what happened there. But we did get pictures of (some of) the food! Our appetizers were baked brie and potato & leek soup. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! No pictures of those, unfortunately. For dinner, I had steak, and Coda had lobster macaroni and cheese.

Mine was delicious, and so was his, from what I hear. Apparently, though, it didn't do the trick. Coda ordered duck next.

Yep, he ordered two entrees. And yep, he ate all of it. Both our servers seemed taken aback, but laughed about it for the remainder of the cruise. We were both blown away by the food! Him based on his last cruise experience, and me based on my parents' descriptions of their Carnival cruises. When it was time for dessert, we continued to be amazed!

I had a trio of chocolate cake, creme brulee, and mango cheesecake (which I passed over to Coda). He had a bigger portion of the cake. Delicious!!!
With dinner over, we stopped by the DVC desk, where we'd been told to get our free DCV gift nightly. This time it was a DVC exclusive Mickey pin. Super fun! We went back to Shutters and were told the photographers were mostly booked, but that they would call us when they found something out. We couldn't do anything else about that, so we went back to our room where we found some more Disney Magic waiting for us!

Day one was at an end, our expectations had been far exceeded already, and we hit the sack early.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Reading about this is making me miss the Dream so so much!! It really truly is "magic" in every sense of the word! I got the steak too at RP and it was really yummy! And hopefully you got to see Frozen while onboard

 

[jlsHouston]

Oh boy, I had forgotten all about the anniversary cruise you had planned! Now finish it tonight so I can read the rest while I am doing laundry and packing til the wee hours!

 

[Maggie Mae]

can't wait to read more! the hubs decided yesterday we are going on a cruise next year so this will be fun to read with him!!

 

[Tidbit]

YAY!!!!!! I just got off my very 1st Disney Cruise and even though it was a travel agent training cruise it was AMAZING! I sooooooooooooooooo want to sail on the others now! Can't wait to read all about the rest of your trip! I did a tour of the Dream once, and I loved it!!

 

[coachwnh]

Missed this until just now. Great start.

 

[rani8600]

Sounds like a nice start to a wonderful trip. We have cruised on the Dream twice now it really is a beautiful ship. We are cruising on the Wonder in the fall and hoping that it doesnt seem small in comparision...

I have a question..from what you said about the DVC presentation would you do it again? We havent done it yet but were thinking about it this time (for the yummy drinks ). We are worried we would regret the time spent for just a sales speech. Thoughts?

 

[rufio]

Reading about this is making me miss the Dream so so much!! It really truly is "magic" in every sense of the word! I got the steak too at RP and it was really yummy! And hopefully you got to see Frozen while onboard

We loved it so much! The food... OMG.

Oh boy, I had forgotten all about the anniversary cruise you had planned! Now finish it tonight so I can read the rest while I am doing laundry and packing til the wee hours!

Haha! Yeah, here's part two... a month later...

can't wait to read more! the hubs decided yesterday we are going on a cruise next year so this will be fun to read with him!!

You will have SO much fun!

Love your report so far!!

Thank you!

YAY!!!!!! I just got off my very 1st Disney Cruise and even though it was a travel agent training cruise it was AMAZING! I sooooooooooooooooo want to sail on the others now! Can't wait to read all about the rest of your trip! I did a tour of the Dream once, and I loved it!!

Oh, I know! I can't wait to go on more!

Missed this until just now. Great start.

Thanks!

Sounds like a nice start to a wonderful trip. We have cruised on the Dream twice now it really is a beautiful ship. We are cruising on the Wonder in the fall and hoping that it doesnt seem small in comparision...

I have a question..from what you said about the DVC presentation would you do it again? We havent done it yet but were thinking about it this time (for the yummy drinks ). We are worried we would regret the time spent for just a sales speech. Thoughts?

I think it was worth it. It was still fun and we got free stuff!

 

[rufio]

Guys... Okay, guys. I have no excuse, but I'm still going to try. This semester has been so crazy! Midterms were insane and it seems like finals are right around the corner! On top of that, my husband left two weeks ago for Maryland. He came home for a day this weekend and now he's gone again. So there, that's my excuse for waiting a month between updates. If you can ever forgive me, I'll try not to do it again!

Day Three

The day started bright and early at 8:30am. We had a voicemail from the night before telling us they had availability for a photo shoot at 3:30, so we booked it! I jumped out of bed and went out on the verandah to get my first ever look at the Bahamas!

The water was breathtaking! Even though I knew I wouldn't be going in it... Breakfast was at the Enchanted Garden. We were told that we had a choice between Royal Palace and Enchanted Garden. Since we knew we wouldn't have an opportunity for dinner there, we decided to try out breakfast instead. And it was really good! Not just your average breakfast buffet, for sure! I wish I'd taken pictures, but looking back on our trip, I never took any pictures of breakfast! Oh well. After finishing our meal, we made our way to meet with our tour group.

Prior to our cruise, we had booked a sea lion excursion. However, at the last minute we decided to cancel it. It was too much money to spend 20 minutes with the sea lions. Not to mention, we would have to waste half the day getting there, doing the excursion, and getting back to the ship. Instead, we booked Greycliffe Chocolate Factory. We were given Simba stickers and a tour guide and left the ship around 10:45. We walked down to where a bus was waiting for us and boarded. Just a few minutes later, we were pulling up outside of the chocolate factory!

We went inside and were outfitted with sanitary gear (a gown and hair net) and were given a short tour of the workings of the chocolate factory. She told us a bunch of fun facts and then we were seated in a large room filled with rows of tall tables and chairs. In front of each chair was a chocolate mold and supplies.

We had a blast making different things. We made truffles, chocolate covered marshmallows and pineapple, and, of course, a chocolate bar! We had to shine the inside of our mold with a cotton ball until we were confident it was polished to a high sheen. Apparently this makes a difference in the way your bar looks at the end.

It was so much fun! At the end, our tour guide asked us several questions related to the information she'd given us before we made our candy. Coda answered the most correctly and won another chocolate bar and truffle! Yay for free chocolate! After we were finished we met our bus and we took the long way around back to the ship. He told us some fun facts about Nassau. At one point we had to make an unexpected detour because of a military funeral! It was interesting to see that procession.

We were back on board by 2pm, which was much better for us. We were able to do something fun with the morning and still had plenty of time to enjoy the ship. We grabbed the drink of the day (something banana...) and headed to Cabanas for lunch.

Let me tell you, the cruise is worth going on for the food alone! It was delicious! Even though you know it's being catered for that many people, Disney still manages to pull it off. After lunch, we went back to the room to shower and get ready for our photo shoot! We met Mikey at Shutters at 3:30 for our first anniversary photo shoot. He told us he was from the UK and a little about his time with Disney Cruise Line. He apparently loved it! We followed him back to The District and he told us he'd be taking several pictures in the various clubs. We roamed around the ship (it was pretty empty) taking pictures for about an hour. Mikey was great! His photos came out amazing! And he was a lot of fun to work with. I'll share a couple now and a couple in my next update.

After our photo shoot was complete, we went back to change into more comfy clothes. We still had time to kill before the night's show, so we decided to go check out Pink, the champagne bar onboard.

Sorry the pictures are so dark! Mood lighting and all. We loved this bar! It was the only one we visited during our cruise and it was so cool! Themed after the pink elephants from Dumbo, and the pink elephant would move around the bubbles on the wall. I had a raspberry champagne and Coda had pomegranate. So delicious! We'll definitely be back when we're on the Dream again!

Our show for the night was Villains Tonight! Obviously, I couldn't take photos of the show itself, but I did get a picture of Pain and Panic before it started!

It was a great show! All of them were truly great, but this was probably my favorite! It's not often you get to see so many Disney villains in one place! The shows were one of my favorite parts of the cruise. After the show we went to check out the shops for a few minutes before dinner.

Tonight's dinner was at Animator's Palate! On the way there, we noticed some really cool lights on the bottom of the ship. It made the water glow blue.

It's the little things... So anyway, back to Animator's Palate:

I was told that I absolutely had to go to Animator's Palate! We knew we would be missing one of the restaurants, so we made sure that it wouldn't be this one! It was so much fun! The food was great and so was the environment! Crush came out about halfway through and started interacting with everyone. Unfortunately, we weren't in a place to talk to him, but Coda loved it anyway. He loves Turtle Talk!

We had the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes to start, which was AMAZING! So much yum! For our main courses, I had lemon-thyme marinated organic chicken breast with sour cream mashed potatoes, roasted root vegetables and grain mustard jus:

And Coda had marinated angus beef tenderloin on wasabi mashed potatoes with bok choy and a tamarind-barbecue reduction.

Delicious! For dessert, Coda had the trio:

And I had a chocolate cake. On top of that, our servers brought us an anniversary surprise!

It was, of course, yummy! And made us feel totally special! The only unfortunate aspect of dinner came with the moving of the ship. Because of the restaurant's location (and perhaps where we were seated?), we could feel the movement of the ship a lot more than any other time. It didn't bother my sailor husband, but I started to get a little queasy. We left once we were done with dessert and spent some time walking around the art store. We went and grabbed our DVC gift of the day as well! We got a really cool 8x10 photo of Walt and Lillian Disney onboard their first cruise! I can't wait to get it framed! When it was time, we made our way on deck for Pirate Night!

We had a lot of fun watching the show and we found a perfect spot for fireworks! Mikey had given us tips for best viewing! It got a little crazy!

After the fireworks, we headed back to our room. Coda, who's always hungry, ordered a burger from room service. Once he stuffed that in his face, it was time for bed! Were so ready for our relaxing next day...

 

[jlsHouston]

You look absolutely gorgeous and amazing in the photos. The chocolate factory tour is right up my alley. I am going to do it next time we go to Atlantis.

 

[Tidbit]

ohhhhh I know what's next!! My FAVORITE part of the cruise!!! I can't wait to see how you enjoyed "it" too!

 

[coachwnh]

You two look great! Im sure it was fun. Cant wait to read more.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

It looks like you guys had a great time so far! We've never done a cruise so it's always fun to hear/see all about it. BEAUTIFUL photos! Happy belated anniversary!

 

[FlaggNL]

Great report, great couple, great pictures can't wait for more!!!

 

[rufio]

You look absolutely gorgeous and amazing in the photos. The chocolate factory tour is right up my alley. I am going to do it next time we go to Atlantis.

Thank you!!! And you should definitely do the chocolate factory! So much yum!

ohhhhh I know what's next!! My FAVORITE part of the cruise!!! I can't wait to see how you enjoyed "it" too!

Haha!

You two look great! Im sure it was fun. Cant wait to read more.

Thanks so much!

It looks like you guys had a great time so far! We've never done a cruise so it's always fun to hear/see all about it. BEAUTIFUL photos! Happy belated anniversary!

It was so much fun! You should definitely go one day! And thanks

Great report, great couple, great pictures can't wait for more!!!

Thank you!!

 

[rufio]

Day Four

We were up bright and early at 8:30am! Is this really vacation? I swear, one day I'm going to take a vacation and just sleep - the entire time! Anyway, once we were up I ran over to the verandah to see what I could see and it was beautiful!

We were at Castaway Cay! The water was just breathtaking, beyond anything I'd ever imagined! Something about it was just... better than Nassau - probably because Disney owns it! We got ready quickly and headed down to breakfast at Cabanas. The breakfast buffet was awesome, just like we expected it to be! And once we were done stuffing ourselves with amazing food, we were off the ship and onto the island!

We had an appointment at the massage cabanas, but had some time to kill. We debated walking to the "adult" side of the island, but the tram was coming around just as we were about to head off in that direction, so we jumped on! We rode through the island trying to make out far off details. We saw a tall lookout, which I suppose you can ride to on rented bicycles. That might be a fun outing for another trip! Once we'd made it over to "that side" we saw the characteristic half of a plane just before the massage check-in.

The ladies at check-in told us to come back a few minutes for our appointment, so we took some time to walk around the beach and put our toes in the water, though only very briefly. It was COLD! I can't believe there were people in the water, but more power to them! We made our way back to the bar and grabbed a couple drinks of the day.

Finally, it was time to check in for our massages! We had a couples cabana and it was Coda's first massage ever. I have to admit, it was kind of amusing watching him try to figure out what exactly to do (anyone who's had a massage has been there). It was a little uncomfortable while getting undressed and redressed since the windows were basically wide open and people were walking back and forth. I can only assume the cabanas are at some special angle that doesn't allow people to see in? Overall, it was a great massage and Coda really enjoyed it! Yes, it's overpriced, but it's the experience, right?

After our massage, we went ahead back to the ship. The water was freezing and we had no intention of going in! We decided to use the afternoon exploring the ship! Swimsuits donned, we made the trek up the Aqua Duck! The ship was pretty empty and there was no line. We only went on once, but it was SO much fun! If we take a longer cruise in the future, we'll definitely plan more time around that. Neither of us are big swimmers, but water coasters are a go!

Next we went over to the hot tub for a few minutes to warm back up. It was nice, but there were several kids in it also, so it didn't last long. I did get a cool picture of the glass wall and floor of the hot tub, which I hadn't noticed before! Such a cool touch!

By this time we were hungry, but Cabanas was closed for the evening. Instead, we grabbed a quick lunch at Flo's Cafe. Then it was off to the Cove Cafe in the adult lounge for dessert - a peanut butter brownie!

See all the kids? Nope? Didn't think so! It was so relaxing! And yes, there's a hot tub in there too!

We had been keeping an eye on the times guide (is that what it's called on the cruises?) for one thing in particular throughout our cruise...

Frozen in 3d! Coda had been wanting to see it since it came out, but he'd been out at work and hadn't had a chance. Luckily for us, we got to see it for free on the Disney Dream! It was an AMAZING movie! If you haven't seen it, I recommend it! And free is always good. Not to mention the theater was basically empty since everyone was on the island!

Finally, it was time to get ready for our dinner reservations at Palo.

We checked in and were seated immediately. Our waiter greeted us and gave us menus with lots of fancy stuff I've never heard of! The atmosphere was romantic and pretty dark (I apologize for the pictures).

Coda had the biggest fried shrimp I've ever seen as an appetizer!

I had soup, but no picture! Sorry! He also brought out a fancy shmancy cart with different meats and cheeses that were amazing! For my entree, I had ravioli in a chianti reduction. Delicious!

Coda had (what else?) beef!

In between courses we were given lemon sorbet to "cleanse the palate." Can you tell I'm not a fancy kind of girl? Dessert was their famous chocolate souffle, which was to die for! We had to order it at the same time as our entrees since it takes so long to cook and it was totally worth it!

I shared, but I really didn't want to! Our waiter brought out a "happy anniversary" plate just as we were getting ready to finish up!

I've never gotten anything like this anywhere outside of Disney, and that's why I love them so much!

Our last stop of the night after dinner was to meet with our photographer, Mikey, to pick our photos to go on a disc. Here are a couple more from our photo shoot:

Before this, however, we had picked up our nightly DVC gift. This time it was a small art print (I can't remember the artist). We had it with us and Mikey offered to have it signed by all the characters for us! We graciously accepted! He told us to pick up everything the next morning at Shutters.

So, with that, we went back to our room. Of course, there was a new towel creation waiting for us!

We packed up, put our bags outside the door, and went to sleep.

 

[coachwnh]

Great stuff! Again, you two look great!