I Wanna Be Where The People Aren’t: Finding Some Calm On The Crowded Disney Dream

[Vegas Disney Fan]

We did the Norway cruise last year on the Dream and it was by far the most crowded Disney cruise we’ve done also, our theory is the limited number of Disney cruises in Europe results in more guests who are constantly out and about because they are trying to do everything, since we have several DCL ships in the US year round we suspect a lot of the guests are repeat Disney cruisers who spend more time in their rooms or just lounging around relaxing.

Our European cruise was packed everywhere, constantly… still an amazing cruise though.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 29th August: A Coruña (cont)

After our walk along the beach we decided to head back to the ship. On the way back we saw Spider-Man and Batman, I do not know why they were there.

We really enjoyed our walk around the city. In the Facebook group for the cruise quite a few people were complaining that there was nothing to do. I don’t know whether they just expected to get off the ship and everything just be laid out there for them, but anywhere you go you do need to do some research. I do wish I could have persuaded the girls to go inside the tower because I think it would have been very interesting.

We were pretty tired by the time we got back, we had walked over 5 miles, so decided to just relax for the rest of the day. Lexi headed off to Vibe while Alice and I had lunch a Cabanas and then sat out in our spot by the Funnel Puddle pool (it was still a bit chilly)

After a while it got a bit too crowded so I decided to sit out on my veranda and enjoy the view from there

It wasn’t much of a view but it was peaceful. At least it was until the family next door went on their veranda and were encouraging their little boy to shout hola, hola repeatedly as loud as he could

 

[King Panda 77]

We didn't spot batman.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

We did the Norway cruise last year on the Dream and it was by far the most crowded Disney cruise we’ve done also, our theory is the limited number of Disney cruises in Europe results in more guests who are constantly out and about because they are trying to do everything, since we have several DCL ships in the US year round we suspect a lot of the guests are repeat Disney cruisers who spend more time in their rooms or just lounging around relaxing.

Our European cruise was packed everywhere, constantly… still an amazing cruise though.

On ours it didn’t help that the weather wasn’t very good so a lot of people were trying to find things to do inside.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

We didn't spot batman.

Maybe you didn’t go past that bit if you were docked in a different place

 

[Bullseye1967]

it’s lovely that I have a teenager who wants to spend time with me.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 29th August: A Coruña (cont)

Our show tonight was another that we hadn’t seen before

This turned out to be just the main theatre performers on a completely bare stage. No sets, minimal choreography and dialogue between songs, it just showcased the vocal talents of the cast. And we absolutely loved it, they are just so talented. At one point in the show there was a mashup of Just Around the Riverbend, Go the Distance and Out There that had us in tears. And then to add to it was a performance of Baby Mine .

For dinner tonight we were back in Animator’s Palate for the regular menu and the Crush show which we always enjoy. We queued up early again so were able to go into a mostly empty dining room, and I was able to take a few photos before it got too crowded.

The girls were given kids menus again

Alice enjoyed some colouring, Lexi did not

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 29th August: A Coruña (cont)

To start Alice had: SMOKED SALMON TARTAR with Dill, Capers, Onions, Pickles, and a Horseradish Cream which she really enjoyed.

Lexi and I both had: BLACK TRUFFLE PASTA PURSEITTES, Pasta Purses filled with Truffle-scented Cheese and coated with a delicate Champagne Sauce. They were tasty but unfortunately only lukewarm.

I also had a salad: ARUGULA LEAVES with Red Beets, Orange segments and Marinated White Beans with Mustard Dressing. It came ready dressed ( I’d always had salad dressed at the table before) and doesn’t look that good in the photo, but it was fresh and tasty.

For our main courses Lexi had pasta (again), Alice had: GRILLED TUNA STEAK with Fingerling Confit, Caponata, Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, and Aioli, which she loved.

And I had: GINGER-TERIYAKI DUSTED ANGUS BEEF TENDERLOIN served on Wasabi Mashed Potatoes with Bok Choy and a Tamarind Barbecue Reduction, which again doesn’t look particularly good in the photo but was very good.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 29th August: A Coruña (cont)

One thing we noticed at dinner this evening was the amount of strollers being brought into the dining room, something I don’t think I’ve seen at the late dinner seating before. The big table across from us had two strollers between it and the table the other side of it, it must have made it difficult if anyone needed to get up during dinner. It looked like they were putting young children down to sleep towards the end of the meal.

Again it was very loud during dinner, so loud that even though we were quite close to one of the screens we couldn’t actually hear what crush was saying. It was a bit disappointing because we’ve seen quite funny interactions in the past.

After our main courses, Lexi left to go to Vibe (again).

Alice’s choice for dessert was the cookies and cream sundae which she enjoyed.

I had some sort of crumble which I can’t find the description for. It was very underwhelming, again the best thing about it was the ice cream.

After dinner we kept to what had become our routine and headed up to the pool deck to watch a movie on funnelvision. I really was enjoying ending our evenings like this, it was so peaceful up there late at night.

It looked like the toys were enjoying themselves when we got back to the room.

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

Loving your review! We were on the Dream earlier in August for the Norway itinerary and it was a little underwhelming.
The food service felt very slow, the food quality was par (Fantasy is leagues better), and our assistant server was standoffish and didnt say more than MAYBE a dozen words to us all week.
We also felt that compared to other itineraries, there just wasnt that much to do. Alaska had a naturalist w lectures, the Caribbean cruises party later, etc. For the first time in a long time, we were a little bored. I always love sea days but when our last day of port cancelled (Haugesund), we were pretty gutted. We ended up sleeping in and watching movies.

For a trip that cost us a ton of money, I think we would have been better to just fly to Oslo and go from there.
Sorry to put my mini review in yours, I feel our opinions mirror yours.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Loving your review! We were on the Dream earlier in August for the Norway itinerary and it was a little underwhelming.
The food service felt very slow, the food quality was par (Fantasy is leagues better), and our assistant server was standoffish and didnt say more than MAYBE a dozen words to us all week.
We also felt that compared to other itineraries, there just wasnt that much to do. Alaska had a naturalist w lectures, the Caribbean cruises party later, etc. For the first time in a long time, we were a little bored. I always love sea days but when our last day of port cancelled (Haugesund), we were pretty gutted. We ended up sleeping in and watching movies.

For a trip that cost us a ton of money, I think we would have been better to just fly to Oslo and go from there.
Sorry to put my mini review in yours, I feel our opinions mirror yours.

Thank you for joining in, it’s good to hear other people’s opinions.

It was definitely a very different experience to previous cruises. I don’t put that down to the ship or the crew, just the overall atmosphere. Once I’ve finished writing about this cruise, I’ll write about my transatlantic one ( spoiler: it was like I was on a different ship)

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 30th August: Vigo, Spain


We woke up this morning to much better weather and views than the previous day.

I managed to get the girls up and moving pretty early and we were having breakfast in Cabanas before it was too busy.

Our destination for the day was the Parque Monte del Castro, which is a hilltop park in the grounds of an old fortress. I’d originally booked an excursion through Disney to visit the fortress and a replica of an old sailing ship which would have cost about $300 for the three of us. With some research I realised it was easy to get to the fortress on our own so cancelled the excursion.

It was only going to be about a one mile walk but it was very hilly. We would be going to the top of the hill in the photo, behind the ugly office building.

On the way out of the port area was this statue, which I took a photo of from the other side of the road. So many people were just stopping in the middle of the road to take a photo

Mickey was waving us off.

It was a very pretty marina.

And we started our climb.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 30th August: Vigo (cont)

Carrying on with our climb.

We saw Jack Sparrow

It‘s so hilly in Vigo that there are escalators on the streets

Part way up we could just about see the ship, next to the ugly building.

Lots of steps

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 30th August: Vigo (cont)

The fortress grounds were lovely

We could see the highest point

The last few steps

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 30th August: Vigo (cont)

I managed to get a photo of the ship with the ugly building mostly covered by trees

More views from the top, it was worth the climb.

And back down.

Back at the harbour we stopped to take some photos with the statue of Jules Verne. One of the chapters in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is about the Bay of Vigo.

We really enjoyed our morning in Vigo. There were some lovely streets to wander around which were quiet as we were quite early. We had planned to stop at a little cafe at the top of the hill but it was closed when we were there. There was a market at the harbour when we got back but we didn’t see anything that we really liked.

So for the two port days I had planned to spend over $600 on excursions. All I ended up spending was €2 on some postcards that Lexi liked.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 30th August: Vigo (cont)

Back at the ship we lost Lexi to Vibe while Alice and I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and lack of people and ride the Aquaduck. It was fun as always but the water was absolutely freezing, definitely a once and done for us.

Lunch was quick service burgers

Then off to our quiet spot at the Funnel Puddle pool until everyone started arriving back on the ship and it got a bit too busy. I was definitely glad I had the verandah to relax on for the rest of the afternoon.

The show tonight was a Beatles tribute band which we didn‘t really want to see, so instead we watched Inside Out 2 in the cinema. We‘d particularly wanted to watch it on the ship because we’d watched the first film with the whole family on our Fantasy cruise years ago. I did not cry, which is how I rate Pixar movies (Ive cried in pretty much all Pixar movies), I really didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as the original.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 30th August: Vigo (cont)

Leaving Vigo (a bit out of order, this was before we went to the cinema)

Lexi was down on deck 4 as we were leaving Vigo and said she saw some whales but didn’t manage to get any photos.

After our movie we had a little while before dinner so tried again to listen to the piano player in the atrium. And again it was just too crowded and noisy to hear the music.

We opted instead for a stroll around deck 4. I’d forgotten that part of deck 4, outside the adult bar area, is a smoking area in the evenings which was unpleasant to walk through. So we only walked one lap, then sat and enjoyed the sea view for a while.

Dinner tonight was at Enchanted Garden and we queued up early again so it was quiet when we first went in.

Tonight’s wine, it was just ok.

To start Alice had: AHI TUNA AND AVOCADO TOWER with Crispy Noodles and Wasabi Dressing. She really enjoyed this.

Lexi and I both had: NORTH ATLANTIC LOBSTER RAVIOLI with Roasted Garlic and Sweet Basil in a Tomato Broth. I’d asked for a double portion because I usually love this. Tonight the broth was thick, more of a sauce, and it was just ok nothing special. I felt like I did have to eat it all though after asking for a double portion.

For our main course Alice and I both had: CARAMELIZED SEA SCALLOPS with Roasted Asparagus, Sun-dried Tomato Couscous, Caramelized Leeks, and Red Wine Veal Jus. We both thought this was delicious.

There was no pasta on the main menu for the picky eater, so Lexi just had a plain chicken breast with rice.

For dessert Alice had an ice cream sundae which we forgot to photograph, and I had: LEMON RASPBERRY MOUSSE BOMBE, Citrus Lemon Mousse embedded with fresh Raspberries. I really enjoyed this, I love lemony desserts.

Lexi had skipped dessert again and headed off to Vibe where she got to meet her favourite character.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 30th August: Vigo (cont)

After dinner we headed away from the crowds and up to watch some funnelvision again. It was very blustery up there and the blankets were definitely needed.

Back at the room everyone was ready for bed.

This was the night that we felt the ship moving the most, we could really feel it going up and down over the waves. I loved it and slept really well, Lexi in the top bunk not so much.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 31st August: Day at Sea 2

This was our last day on the ship and the day that the peopley-ness got to me the most, so there will be a few rants.

As we didn’t have any definite plans for the day and we’d had a couple of early mornings, we were going to have a lie in today. But we had put our clocks back an hour overnight to get back to UK time, so the extra hour’s sleep meant I was still up quite early. I pottered about in the room for a while debating going to breakfast on my own, eventually giving the girls a nudge. Alice wanted to get ready and go to Cabanas, Lexi wanted to stay in bed. I think that was the last time I saw Lexi that day until dinner, she spent all day with her Vibe friends.

Cabanas was very busy again, we had to walk around for a while to find somewhere to sit, Alice sat at the table while I got my drink. It was slow going getting back to the table, there was an older man in front of me with a walking cane, but I wasn’t in a rush to get anywhere and held back to give him some space. This then caused a bit of a queue, but most people were patient. Then, you know when it’s crowded and there’s always one person who is just more important than everyone else and they have to weave through everyone not caring if they’re pushing into people? That happened here. A woman ended up right on my shoulder trying to squeeze past me. If it had just been me I probably would have just let her past, but I was not going to let her push into the man with the cane. So all 4’11’ of me stepped in front of her to block her and make her wait the 30 seconds she would have saved by pushing past.

Anyway, now it was time for some food. I was in the mood for some sweet breakfast this morning and decided to try something the girls had been enjoying. Mickey churro waffles are AMAZING!!!!! I absolutely loved them, and was mad at myself for not getting them earlier.

Alice had a bit of a mixture

After breakfast, the one thing Alice wanted to do was the Muppets version of the Midship Detective Agency so we headed out to play. Today so did about half of the ship and we had to queue at each piece of art. This was fine, I don’t at all mind waiting my turn. The problem was when it was our turn to play, the groups of people behind us were so loud that we couldn’t actually hear any of the clues. We gave up after a couple of artworks and decided to try again later.

It was another day of not very good weather, so everywhere inside the ship was busy again. And again there were lots of children running down the hallways and stairs. And not just the unsupervised ones, at one point I saw a grown man chasing a child down the hallways playing tag. We needed to get away from the crowds so grabbed some blankets and sat out on deck 4 for some peace and quiet and sea watching.

I think Alice fell asleep

I had taken some knitting with me so took some time to do that and calm my mind.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 31st August: Day at Sea 2 (cont)

After our relaxing sit on deck 4, Alice and I explored the ship’s artwork some more, working our way up the aft staircase.

We thought about playing Goofy Golf out on the sports deck but stepping outside realised it was far too windy.

So a final lunch at Cabanas, then back to the verandah to chill for a while.

On the walk back from Cabanas we passed the family hot tub:

It did not look like the photo. I think there were 2 adults and 15-20 children in there, it was absolutely packed