Trip Report July cruise on the Disney Dream

Hello everyone,
not sure if this is the right forum to post a cruise trip report in? Or if it should go into the cruise forum?
Anyways, we took a 3 day cruise on the Disney Dream in late July.
We are veterans of many Disney world and Disney Land vacations, but had never been on a Disney cruise, or any cruise for that matter!
We decided to only take a 3 day cruise, as we were not sure if we would enjoy it or not.

Who: My Wife, my three kids, and myself, oh and a very large ship!

When: July 18th to July 26th
Where: Georgia, Florida, Disney Springs, Cocoa Beach, Nassau, Castaway Cay, St. Augustine

We live in Kentucky, and decided we were going to take this vacation slow.
So we left in the morning and stopped overnight in Valdosta, Georgia
Got up early the next morning and stopped into Disney Springs for a few hours, then continued onto Cocoa Beach.
Woke up the next morning and headed for the port.

DAY ONE Starts on next post.

 

[bauton]

So we eventually headed back to the ship and got cleaned up for our last night.

One of the things that impressed me the most was how clean the public restrooms were. Each restroom had a cast member assigned to it, and that is all they did was keep it cleaned. It was a little creepy sometimes, as some were more rabid with cleaning than others.

We had some time before our meal, so we walked around the ship more.

 

[bauton]

On our last night, we ate at Animator's Palate. This ended up being our favorite. Not only for the decorations, but we thought the food was the best here.

We forgot to get our butter knife from the gift shop

This restaurant had a "show". If you've seen Turtle Talk with Crush at the parks, you'll be familiar with this. But there were screens all over the restaurant and Crush would appear on the screens and talk with you. He had the guests in our section do the "wave" like you would at a ball game. It was great fun. There were also neat little knick knacks on the shelves all throughout the restaurant that all had nods to Pixar films and shorts.

Bruce even came to visit

The family that sat with us each night was great. Here to find out, they live in a town only 40 minutes from us!! After we got home and looked at pictures and videos, we ended up getting a bunch of pictures of them without even realizing it!!

 

[bauton]

More Food

After dinner, we went down to the gift shop area, where the crew was doing pin trading. My sons traded for some pins and got some good ones. Then you could go into one of the gift shops and meet the Captain of the ship! I bought a model of the ship and he dated and autographed it for me!

We then went in and saw our last show. It was called Believe. It was another tear jerker. I think it was our favorite show out of the three.
After the show, we headed back into the atrium for the saddest moment of the cruise. The Sailing Away Show. The main characters came out and did a little song and dance and then waved good bye to everyone. Again, i was a wreck emotionally.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Disney show without confetti,

Good Bye Mickey!!

 

[bauton]

We sadly headed back to our room for the night. But what better way to pick up the spirits than to order room service!!

The next morning we woke up back at Port Canaveral. We ate breakfast at Animator's Palate again, said goodbye to our wait staff and headed out of the ship. Luggage pick-up was easier than I thought it was going to be, as it is organized very well. We breezed thru customs, and headed into the garage to get to our car.

We ended up driving up the coast that day and stopped at St. Augustine for a few days and then headed home. Stopping in Pigeon Forge on the way.

Overall, I would say this was one of the best vacations I have ever taken. We had no plans going on this trip of taking another cruise in the future, as there are so many other things to see and do. But on pirate night, the Wife came to me and told me to go put the deposit down on a place holder for our next cruise!! I didn't argue one bit. Is it expensive? Yes. Is it worth it? For my family it was. Was three days enough, not even close. We will definitely do a longer cruise next time.

Feel free to ask any questions, and I'll try to answer.
Thanks for reading!

 

[imahistorygeek]

Our first cruise was on the Dream, same length. We were hooked! We love WDW, but DCL is a whole different level of fun!

If you decide to take future trips (after your next one), try an adults-only if you are able. It's fun with kids, but a something completely different without them. We've done both and have enjoyed all of them.

Looks like y'all had a great time!

 

[LeighM]

You combined 2 of my childhood vacation spots in one My family either vacationed at St. Augustine or Pigeon Forge. Those were our 2 main go to places and I have fond memories of them both! I enjoyed your trip report. Makes me excited because my first cruise ever is next April on the Dream

 

[LAKid53]

Did you try the Aquaduck at night? It's cool...and a little scary.

Question, now that Port Canaveral has stopped prepayment of parking for a spot in the garage next to Disney's terminal, did you have any problems finding a spot? Was the line to get into the garage really long when you arrived? And what time did you arrive? We're doing a 4 night on the Dream in October - one of the Halloween on the High Seas cruises - and the kids decided we should drive, instead of taking the cruise bus this time. Probably because I told them they would have to pay for the bus, lol.

 

[Megbutnotmegan]

Great report! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Plowboy]

Great TR. It brought back fond memories of our cruises on the Big Red Boat about 25 years ago.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Great report! We love the Disney Cruiseline as well.

 

[Zipadeelady]

I enjoyed your report, thanks for sharing!

 

[bauton]

Did you try the Aquaduck at night? It's cool...and a little scary.

Question, now that Port Canaveral has stopped prepayment of parking for a spot in the garage next to Disney's terminal, did you have any problems finding a spot? Was the line to get into the garage really long when you arrived? And what time did you arrive? We're doing a 4 night on the Dream in October - one of the Halloween on the High Seas cruises - and the kids decided we should drive, instead of taking the cruise bus this time. Probably because I told them they would have to pay for the bus, lol.

The only lines in the garage we had was in the luggage drop off area, but even that moved fast. There were plenty of spots when we got there, plus there are uncovered lots next to the garage. We arrived at 9:30 in the morning.

 

[LAKid53]

The only lines in the garage we had was in the luggage drop off area, but even that moved fast. There were plenty of spots when we got there, plus there are uncovered lots next to the garage. We arrived at 9:30 in the morning.

Thanks.

 

[Billy6]

Excellent report!

Yes, 3 days is not enough! The week long ones are great and it seems like you live there by day 4! Plus the Animator's Palate show is worth the longer cruise itself!!

 

[me_stitch]

great pics

 

[C.FERNIE]

Thank you, looks like you had an awesome time makes me want to take a Disney cruise!

 

[Tink86]

We were on the Dream and got off a few days before your cruise. We did a five night cruise, and while it was enough, I like 7 days better. Our five day cruise was a double dipper for Castaway Cay. My husband and I went to Serenity Bay (?), the adult beach, for the first time. It was amazing; not sure I'll ever go back to the family beach. Our teens wanted to do what they wanted to do and we were all for that. They love the Vibe, we hardly saw them! I'm so glad to see your family had an amazing time! We have now been on all the ships, twice on the Dream, and we've done 3, 6,7, 5, and 4 day cruises...7 is the favorite and 5 is the minimum. We also booked a placeholder!!! Happy sailing! Cindy

 

[KellBelle]

Looks like it was a blast! Thanks for the great read!

 

[DisSplash]

I just found your trip report and was very excited as there are not too many cruise trip reports out there. I loved your pictures - you captured the agenda of a Disney cruise very well. I also loved your enthusiasm for it all -- it is so exciting, isn't it? I am getting teary-eyed just reading about how teary-eyed excited you all got!

We too love the parks, but have decided that we prefer the cruises for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the relaxed cruise pace, and the best sleep we have ever gotten in our lives ...

Cabanas is not bad if you get there early for each meal seating (or if you pile up a plate and bring it up to your room to eat on the verandah)! It is the worst during embarkation though as everyone heads there. On our cruise last January, someone gave us the tip of eating lunch at one of the sit-down restaurants and so we headed to Enchanted Gardens when we arrived onboard. We did wait a few minutes for it to open, but it was perfect! No wandering around waiting for a table to open up - it was completely stress and frustration free, and still great food options, which is the best way to start a relaxing vacation.

We started with a 4 night on the Dream 5 years ago, and discovered very quickly that it was way too short! The first day onboard my kids were mesmerized, and when my son asked me how many nights we were staying and I told him 4, he was like a broken record all night long, "Why only 4?, why can't we stay longer? Can't you just tell them we want to stay longer? Just tell them we want some extra days! Why only 4?!" From then on out, it has only been 7 nighters for us, and we are 316 days away from our next one!

I look forward to hearing about when you booked that placeholder of yours!