Trip Report Marriage is a DREAM!

Hi and welcome to our honeymoon TR! :joyfull: Most of you know me by now, but I'll do some quick introductions for any newcomers!

I'm Brittany and this is my husband (EEK! 😍), Dylan. We are from Pennsylvania, but moved to Florida 2 years ago for jobs, sunshine, and Disney! We are teachers in the same district.. I teach 1st grade and Dylan teaches high school (US History and AP US History), but when we first moved here Dylan worked full time at the Disney Palm & Magnolia golf courses. He still works there part time, mostly to maintain his golf and Disney CM perks. 😉 We got engaged in the Magic Kingdom just before moving to FL, and it was only fitting that our wedding be Disney themed as well. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the most perfect day ever!
65466348_2994953397211548_1884145145654280192_n.jpg


65460646_2994951367211751_6296651475909083136_n.jpg


65018650_2994953587211529_8014167640123637760_n.jpg


65167006_2994951790545042_6337784497961959424_n.jpg


65029535_2994954077211480_8590912710672121856_n.jpg


Prior to moving to FL, I always imagined that my honeymoon would be at WDW. That didn't make much sense seeing as we can go whenever we want, so we thought, "Why not a Disney cruise?" It got us away, I could get my Disney fix, and most importantly, we could RELAX! A little while after we had made that decision, we discovered that Dylan gets a discounted rate on cruises... I'm talking 50% off discounts. :oops: Disney offers these discounts to CM's in an effort to fill the staterooms that weren't booked by regular guests. We couldn't believe it, but we were thrilled! The only drawback is that to get the discounted rate, we would have to wait until the last minute to book, which meant we wouldn't know anything about our destination, length of cruise, which ship, sail dates, NADA until it was nearly time to sail. We officially booked our cruise about a month before our sail date. So where are we going?

July 7-12, 2019
Disney Dream
5-Day Cruise: Nassau, 2 stops at Castaway Cay, and a day at sea


We arrived at Port Canaveral around 1pm for our 1:45pm boarding time. There were CM's stationed at each "checkpoint" to guide us and tell us where to go next.. everybody was super friendly and helpful and it was an extremely smooth process! We were advised by friends over in the DCL forum to just park at the port since it was our first cruise and we wouldn't save that much money by parking elsewhere. The convenience of parking at the port did prove to be worth the price!

Helloooooo beautiful!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e74.jpg


We entered the terminal at got in line for check in. We had a bit of a wait, but there were a ton of CM's working at the desk and they were pretty efficient at moving guests through the line. Soon we were all checked in and sent to board the ship immediately!

We asked an older woman in front of us to take our picture here, and she seemed very annoyed by the request. She also did a poor job of actually capturing what we wanted a picture of. 🙄 I tried not to let it bother me, but I wasn't completely successful lol. I would just like to think that if I saw a young couple wearing shirts indicating that they were on their honeymoon, I would be eager to put my own needs aside for just a few moments to capture an important memory for them. It's not a huge deal, we still have the picture.. but I was still bothered.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e75.jpg


I decided to say "Hakuna Matata" and move on... we were about to go on a Disney cruise! :joyfull: We continued along and stopped for our pre-boarding picture. We decided against paying for the expensive photo package.. I feel as if this is probably frowned upon but I took pictures of all of the PhotoPass pictures on my phone. :angelic:

A quick sidebar about the cruise PhotoPass - There are large bookshelves on Deck 4 of the ship that contain folders disguised as books. You scan your Key to the World card and it tells you what color, character, and number your photos can be found in and then you locate that "book" on the shelf. For example, ours was yellow Donald Duck 16. Inside the books, you'll find printed copies of all of the PP pictures you've had taken in varying sizes. We were a little confused about this for a few reasons. Isn't it a waste of money to print pictures for people that didn't purchase the package? And how do they prevent people who didn't purchase the pictures from taking them anyway? These are the questions that haunt me! Lol.

Another thing about cruise PP - the CM's will not take pictures on your phone. We asked at Castaway and she said that she's not allowed, so we had to have another guest take it for us. I thought that this was super odd considering the PP photographers at WDW are able to take pictures on phones? The character attendants were able to take pictures at meet and greets, but the photographers would not.
mw6xpAJXT6+eY6G3bjYEDA_thumb_6f96.jpg


Anyway, moving on! We walked onto the ship and were announced as the Reinsel family. 🥰 I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that! We stepped into the atrium and though it was stunning, I was surprised at how small it was! I pictured it being much more grand, but it was beautiful all the same!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e76.jpg


We stopped to say hello to Donald before continuing on to explore the rest of the ship!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e78.jpg
 

MeeskaMooska0714

Well-Known Member
Following and can't wait to read all about your honeymoon!

Side note: I went on a cruise in college with friends and they had the same picture set up. We thought that you could just go up and take your pictures and leave. We didn't find out until later that we couldn't just take then when a security alarm went off on our way out! HAHA!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Can’t wait to hear about your honeymoon!
Can’t wait to hear all about your trip!
Looking forward to reading about your cruise!
Can’t wait to hear all about the cruise as a Mrs.!
So exciting! Very much looking forward to this report!
:)Looking forward to this!!
I'm following along! Cannot wait to hear about the trip!
Yay, can't wait to follow along!
Can't wait for this one!
Following along:geek:

Welcome aboard! :joyfull:


Following along! I'm still trying to convince DH that a Disney Cruise is a good idea 😍

Oh my, it's a FANTASTIC idea! 😍

Yay! So excited you started this report! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on a cruise! I can't wait for our next one in 2021!

I'm jealous that you have another one booked! 😍

Following along! Hope you had a magical trip!!

Magical is an understatement! 😉


Love love 💕 your new haircut. 😀 Looking forward to hearing about your trip.
Looking forward to this! Love your short hair, it's super cute!

Thank you both! I love my short hair! 🙂


Welcome home! I am so looking forward to your report! I hope you fell in love with the Disney Dream and Castaway Cay!

I most certainly did! 😍

I've been waiting for this TR! Cruising with Disney is the best!!

Your wedding pictures are so beautiful!!

You are sooooo right! Thank you! 🥰


Congrats again!

Looking forward to the report!

Thank you! Welcome aboard! 🙂


Congrats!!! And cannot wait to hear about your honeymoon!!

Thank you! Happy you're here! 🙂


Congratulations! Beautiful wedding! Excited to follow along!

Happy Honeymoon!✨🌙✨

Thank you! Welcome! 🙂


Following along :) I still love that wedding dress! My husband and I have a trip planned on the Disney Dream next year for our 6th wedding anniversary. But we've been together a total of 17 years so we tend to forget our wedding anniversary LOL. Looking forward to seeing more about your trip!

Thank you! I loved my dress so much.. I didn't want to take it off at the end of the night! 🙂 I'm sure that you'll have a magical time!


Like everyone else, I'm very much looking forward to the rest of your report! Congratulations! 😍

Thank you and welcome! 🙂

Following and can't wait to read all about your honeymoon!

Side note: I went on a cruise in college with friends and they had the same picture set up. We thought that you could just go up and take your pictures and leave. We didn't find out until later that we couldn't just take then when a security alarm went off on our way out! HAHA!

Happy you're here! 🙂 I'm glad we didn't try to leave with our pictures then! 😂

Another follower here! Love your wedding photos!

Thank you! Welcome to my report! 🙂

Dude. Hurry up!!

:hilarious::hilarious::inlove::inlove::inlove::inlove:

WORKING ON IT! 😉

Following along on time for a change. Again Congrats!!

Welcome aboard! Thank you! 🙂
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, July 7

We decided to head upstairs to see if our room was ready.. it was! Our luggage hadn't arrived yet, but it didn't take them long to get it to us. It was a little odd to me that they just left everybody's bag in the hallway outside the door.. I assumed that they would knock on the door and just open the door themselves if guests weren't in the room (like they do at WDW).

Our room was right by the elevators (which was fantastic!) and we lucked into a Deluxe Family Oceanview stateroom upgrade! It took us a minute to figure out the lights (you have to put your Key to the World card in the reader by the door) but soon we were in business!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e79.jpg


UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e7c.jpg


The shower and a sink were in one room - helloooooo rain shower. 😍 I was so excited to have Disney shampoo, conditioner, soap, and lotion for the week! Next time, I'm taking some of those travel containers so I can fill them up to bring home. 😏 You can't stop me, Disney!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e7d.jpg


I loved the design on all of the towels, but they were super stiff and uncomfortable.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e7e.jpg


The toilet and another sink were in a separate room.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e7f.jpg


Door #1 was the shower and door #2 was the toilet.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e80.jpg


We put our magnet on the door and met our stateroom hostess, Taew. She was over the top friendly and always called us by name when she saw us throughout the week. She kept our room in tip top shape and we never needed to ask for anything!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e82.jpg


Some people really went all out with decorating their doors.. we saw some really cute magnets over the course of the week! I also saw a few people with pin boards on their door with signs that said "take a pin, leave a pin. and thought that was a really fun idea! Our dinner tablemates showed us a picture of a door on their deck.. the people had lists of all of the Disney cruises they had done. Want to guess how many that was? 82... that's right, 8-2. 😳😱 At one point they cruised for an entire month. Can you even IMAGINE!?

Anyway, we ventured back outside to explore the ship some more.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e83.jpg


Ready for an incredible week! :joyfull: This was taken in one of the adult only areas, which proved to be a lifesaver all week!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e86.jpg
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Congrats on your honeymoon! I've always wanted to do a cruise period, but a Disney cruise would be even better! That's awesome that you guys were able to get the CM discount. 50% off is definitely worth waiting for!

Following along!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, July 7

We went to Senses spa to see about purchasing passes for the Rainforest Room. The Rainforest is an adult only part of the spa that includes 3 saunas (of varying temperatures and scents), 3 showers (with various settings), heated lounge chairs, and two jacuzzis. We ended up getting a tour of the entire spa and learned about all of the services that they offer (who gets acupuncture or their teeth whitened on a cruise ship?) before purchasing our Rainforest passes for the week. They were running a special for the first day of the cruise, which meant that we got both of our passes for about $180 after gratuity. In the future, I think that we would opt for a day pass rather than the week long pass, but we definitely got some use out of it throughout the week!

Since we took a tour, we were given two entries into the Senses raffle. We looked around the adult pool areas for a bit before going back to the spa at 3:00pm for the raffle. I never win anything, but apparently today was my lucky day! :joyfull:
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e87.jpg


We headed back to the room after the raffle to unpack a bit and to let me decompress... lol. Regardless of my efforts to relax, I was feeling very overwhelmed by the ship. I'm used to being at WDW and knowing where everything is and shortcuts to get wherever I need to go. Being on a ship as large as the Dream that I'm completely unfamiliar with was very unsettling and I felt extremely anxious and on edge. I felt better as the week went on and I got acquainted with the ship, but the first day or so was hard for me!

Dylan was obviously not having any trouble relaxing. ;)
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e89.jpg


We went to the mandatory safety drill a few decks down.. I was both surprised and unsurprised by the amount of people who showed up late, causing the rest of us to have to wait for things to begin. 🙄 Disney was very clear about where to report, what time, and that it was mandatory to attend, but I'm certain that the majority of the latecomers were people that thought they would get away with just not showing up. We finally finished and went to watch the Sail Away party. It had to be moved inside to the atrium due to inclement weather. It was cute and I got teary (as I do with every Disney show lol), but I'm sure it's even better outside on the deck stage!
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e97.jpg


UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e8d.jpg


UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e91.jpg


UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e95.jpg


UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e9b.jpg


After the show, we went up to Flo's Cafe for a quick bite to eat to share. Dylan couldn't get over the fact that we could just walk up to the counter and get whatever we wanted without paying lol.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_6e9c.jpg
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Congrats on your honeymoon! I've always wanted to do a cruise period, but a Disney cruise would be even better! That's awesome that you guys were able to get the CM discount. 50% off is definitely worth waiting for!

Following along!

Thank you! I've never cruised with any other line, but I can say without a doubt that nobody cruises like Disney!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Following along! Looks like you had a great start to your trip.

Welcome aboard! :)

What a cool picture! I love the huge circular window! :happy:

It was awesome! :)

DCL=best chix tenders EVER!!!

Also...late but following and best wishes for a long and happy marriage

You can say that again! Thank you! 🥰

Oh, you've paid for it... ;):happy::hilarious:

Well, yeah we realized that. But it was great to not have to go to a register or think about food prices all week! We loved the all inclusive feel.

Caught up and following along! Great report so far! I have always wanted to see what the cruise was like:)

Welcome! DCL is the best! :joyfull:

I’m in! Counting down to my first cruise so hope I can pick up some tips from you 👍

You will love it! Hopefully I can provide lots of tips and you're more than welcome to ask all the questions you want! :)

Great start to the trip report, looking forward to reading the rest!

Happy you're here! :)
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom