All Aboard the Disney Dream!!
This smoke stake plays "when you wish upon a star in horn" it's magical!
Since I recently turned a certain age and haven’t been
celebrating my birthdays we decided to do something a bit fancy this year. My husband and I have never been on a cruise
and I was apprehensive about embarking on one so I told him, if we can go Disney and do it for the shortest period of time, I am in. I have motion
sickness issues, to the point I don’t even go on a carousel, but this has never
diminished my love for certain theme parks (Busch Gardens, Disney). I enjoy the
atmosphere. Since our son is autistic and has numerous issues with certain
concepts, transitions and sensory challenges, we knew we had to do this first. As you know, you can’t possibly get your ASDchild to understand what is not understandable to them if you can’t reach them,
and you certainly can’t reach them if you never did it yourself. So it was research really (wink).
We took the Disney Dream in October on a 3 night cruise to
the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral Florida.
This cruise will take you to Nassau for the day and a day at Disney’s
private island Castaway Cay. We never
left the boat on the day at Nassau, but we did have to check out the island. It
is all that you hear and more, but more on this later.
Disney has its own terminal in Port Canaveral. They do the check in process as smoothly as possible, but considering the ship can hold 4,000 guests, expect it to take a bit. They give you the option to pick an arrival time. We arrived just before 1 p.m. which may have not been the best time. Since we were on property just prior to the cruise we had
Disney pick us up and take us to the terminal. They can do this from the
airport as well, and if you aren’t renting a car and don’t have a large group
of people it is the most economical way to go.
It is also the most stress-free way. The buses are comfortable, air
conditioned and have a bathroom. Plus they handle all of your luggage. They also show Disney cartoons and a video
about what is coming up on the cruise. Similar to what you see on the MagicalExpress (Which is also lovely and a must). Your actual check in can be started
online, so when you get to a cast member it only takes a few minutes for them
to take your picture and give you your key to the world cards. The cruise line
as of the fall of 2014 is not set up for magic bands yet. Don't forget you need a passport or passport card when going to the Bahamas. If you don't have either of these, I was told you can bring your birth certificate (with seal and mother's maiden name) along with a driver's license. But if you wind up in a situation where you had to fly home, you would still need a passport.
The Disney Dream is spectacular, it is an enormous ship of over 1100 feet in length and can carry over 1400 crew with the 4,000 passengers. It is not the largest cruise ship, though it is one of them.
It is beautiful on the inside and out. Art is everywhere.
I was apprehensive about the motion of the ocean and
countless people have told me for years, that these cruise ships are like
hotels, and you can’t feel it. Well they were wrong that I could indeed feel
it, but they were right that it did not make me sick and that it was like a big
hotel. I could only feel the ship the first day, and the last night when we
were cruising at a very good pace back to Port Canaveral. From Nassau to
Castaway, it was as if the boat was just floating there (which is semi-true, it’s
a short distance). I have been on ferries and the Spirit of Philadelphia and
never got sick on those, but did feel queasy on the Spirit when we were docked
and a bigger boat came by. This never happened on this cruise. I did not feel
sick in the slightest, and I have felt queasy from reading a book in a car,
swinging on a swing too long, and I cannot ride rides like Star Tours.
Everyone is different and they do have an infirmary on board stocked with
motion sickness meds. I did feel like I was moving still for about 2 days
after, not nauseous just like you feel after being in a car for a long time. A
tad vertigo without the spinning.
Once you are on board (and you can board around 11 a.m.) you
can get your picture taken, check out your room and go have your first meal.
Rooms are ready by 1:30, your luggage will arrive later so take a day bag. Our
first meal was at Cabanas, which is the main buffet. They put out a breakfast
and lunch buffets each day of the cruise. You do have counter service options
as well as 24 hour room service. Room service is FREE, with the exception of alcohol
and bottled beverages. There are also 5
full service restaurants on board that are typically for dinner; Animators
Palate, the Enchanted Garden, and The Royal Palace. Palo and Remy which are fine
dining, more private options, work as reservations only with a 75 upcharge per
couple. The first day you also had the option of eating lunch at the Enchanted
Garden. At 4 p.m. there is a mandatory safety drill. Even though it is well
organized sending specific guest rooms to specific areas of the main theater, It
was very chaotic getting into the theater. Though the drill itself was very
short, less than 10 minutes. And its purpose is to
show you how to use a life vest and where to go if there was an emergency. But
now that we know what to expect, I would wait to enter near the end to avoid the
chaos, or ask a cast member to be seated BEFORE the chaos when bringing our
son.
The ship is decorated for Halloween during the month of October for Halloween on the High Seas.
The ship is full of activities. The highlight for the adventurous is the Aqua Duck, a water
coaster. You don’t have too many steps
to climb and the wait will vary on when you decide to ride it. I noticed it was
from 10-45 minutes. We chose to ride it the day the ship docked at Castaway,
just before we disembarked. (it was 10minutes that day) You ride in a 2 person
raft up down and around the ship (and yes it actually goes over the side a
little bit) it wasn’t overly terrifying thankfully, it was fun! We rode it a
second time even.
There are movies
playing in 2 locations most of the day all days of the cruise. One is a large
TV by the family pool, and also in one of the 2 theaters. In the evening you
get treated to a Disney production in the other theater, it is more elaborate
than the shows in the parks, and about half of the time of a Broadway show. The
quality is as good as those Broadway shows between the talent and the special
effects You can also, swim, play sports, visit the health club or spa, take a
tour, play various games and just plain relax. There are numerous activities
each day and you will be given what is called Your Personal Navigator, and
lovely 4 paged brochure of all the activities, movie times and restaurant
operating times each day. The live theater show is different each night, so if
you don’t see it, you don’t see it. We only made one of the shows, which was
called Believe, and it was awesome. I don’t always care for live theater,
probably because you have to sit still for so long in crammed quarters (hate
concerts too, but love music). But this was just right for me as it was just 45
minutes long. My husband (and the guy next to him) were caught crying at times…though
he will say it was the bubbles they launched from the ceiling.
Followed by fireworks! For those with sensitive ears/sensory challenges these will be the quietest fireworks you have experienced, vast ocean means no echo.
The food on board is amazing and excellent. I have some sensitivities
and issues with my digestive system so whenever I have “fake food” as in, food
with too many additives and such, I get ill. This never happened so I have to assume
judging from the taste and experience Disney is using higher quality food. If you have allergies, be sure to tell them when you are booking. A chef will also speak with you on the ship. You
will also have 3 servers who will follow you from night to night on the
rotational dinning. They were marvelous
and fun. They get to know what you like, and they refill your beverage pretty much after every time you take a drink (ok, not really but if felt that attentive). When you book your cruise you can select which seating you prefer.
First is at 5:45 and second is at 8:15. You get to go to each restaurant each
night. The Royal palace serves French
cuisine and the décor is modeled after many Disney Princesses without the
actual princesses. The Enchanted Garden’s food is similar but is called Continental
fare and the restaurant changes its look slowly throughout your meal. Lamps
that look like flowers opening change color, as do pictures on the walls. Animators
Palate is family fun and an interactive experience with characters from Finding
Nemo. The art work comes to life and gets more evolved throughout your meal. This may not be technically "fine dining" but it feels like it, and must be in the category of Disney Signature Dining. If
you are a couple you will be seated with other couples. We got to know a lovely
couple from Canada who also have an autistic child (also not with them for the
cruise) and another fun couple from Orlando who were huge Disney fans. I wasn’t
sure I would like sitting with strangers, but it turned out to be great fun,
and a little magical.
A special surprise birthday cake just for me!
Your room is cleaned twice a day. In fact the whole ship was extraordinarily
clean, people were always cleaning. You will arrive to your room clean, and in
the evening around dinner or your show time, it will be cleaned again. They
will leave you chocolate and a little surprise with Disney’s special art of
Origami towels. Our stateroom attendant Danny was a real delight and even left us a bag of trick or treat candy one night (which we did bring back for our son). Disney is serious about hygiene
and not spreading germs, you very rarely hear of people getting sick on a
Disney cruise. I didn’t see anyone sick the whole time and it is in part
because of their cleanliness and they make you sanitize your hands every time
you sit to eat. Hand sanitizing stations are in many locations and before
boarding.
You should plan to leave tips for your stateroom attendant and wait staff. You can have it added to your bill or get envelopes from guest services for cash. Disney will give you information on suggested tips based on your occupancy and length of cruise. We left slightly more for 3 out of 4 of the people we tipped and standard for our head server (only because he had little hands-on work compared to the others, so wanted to give them more) For our 3 day trip with the 2 of us meant we left about $80 (standard was $70 something). I felt they earned it.
Castaway Cay is a lovely island, with happy people. They will bring you drinks on the beach and there is a lunch Barbecue (in 3 locations, Cookies, Cookies Two, and at Serenity Beach the adults only area). Mouth watering steak, burgers, dogs, sausage, chicken and salads. I told my dad he should consider a cruise just because of Castaway Cay. Not only can you eat steak from 11:30-3pm the day you are there, you can smoke anywhere you like. (just have the decency to not smoke near children or be a litter bug). There are island activities if you wish to add them on, like snorkeling or renting rafts. There is a water play area for kids (or adult kids) and other water craft adventures. We chose to just relax on the beach, swim, read and eat.
Ok, I did go on the water slide, but it was for research purposes.
And Characters too!
On your last morning you get breakfast in the same place you had your last dinner. If you are a first seating at dinner, breakfast is at 6:45 a.m, if you are second seating it is at 8 a.m. You also have the option to go to Cabanas for one last buffet! We went to the sit down so we could tip our "crew" and say goodbye to our dinner companions. Disney is serious about you getting the heck off the boat though, they have to turn it over for the next group that will be sailing the same day.
In my experience I find the company itself a remarkably well
fueled machine; everything runs smoothly, and on the cruise everything was meticulously
clean. The staff who works in their children’s activity centers are staffed
with professional childcare workers and teachers. So it doesn’t matter if you don’t care about
Mickey, the customer service alone is what will have me come back. But that
magic aspect doesn’t hurt either. There are characters on board and at Castaway
Cay, you will have an easier time and more of it with those characters then you
do in the parks. The ship was beautiful, full of art, and even an art gallery. We didn't get to see everything or do everything, but I know we will be back.
Examiner Article "Can you take a child with Autism on a Disney Cruise?"
Up next, the cost of a cruise and how to pay for it. (coming soon!)
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