Stealthdog

Norwegian Escape and Royal Independence of the Sea also in port at Canaveral.  Make sure to be on deck for every days departure - the horns play 6-7 disney tunes when leaving port.

Nassau day.  Nice views of Atlantis and Baha Mar from the ship.  We didnt leave then ship at Nassau - we have been to Paradise Island twice and not really much to see at the Nassau port.  We did brunch at Remy instead - will post menu separate.

Fireworks display on 2nd night.  They do two showings and you are assigned one (probably based on your dining time).  It lasted about 5 minutes, but it was nice.  Two options were to watch from the pool deck level on 11 or above it on a higher level.

On 11/13/2021 at 5:19 PM, raspberry ridge said:

Any information about entertainment would be appreciated.We will be on board soon.Thanks and hope you are having a lovely voyage.

Lots of entertainment options.  They have the typical options of bingo and trivia (some trivia was family some adult only).  Only one production on the 3 nights - 1st and 3rd nights they had Beauty and the Beast.  2nd night they do fireworks, which was nice.  They have a pianist and violinist on board.  Both were nice, but the violinist was really talented.  Karaoke every night, but we only did the 3rd night because it was adult only - the first 2 nights were family karaoke.  They show the newest disney movies in the theater.  

Ill post one evening of events.  Disney doesnt provide paper dailys anymore, which was really frustrating.  Everything was app based and you cant really see everything at once like the paper versions.

Menus for the 3 dining rooms for dinner.  We rotated through all 3.  Interesting concept of servers move with you to the different restaurants and you keep the same table number for all your dinner meals.

The service was great - definately the type of service you would expect on Disney.  Servers only have 2 tables, so are very attentive, maybe too much.  They kept bringing things I didnt ask for, but that was ok.

I was disappointed with the food itself.  It was better than main dining on some cruise lines, but definately below Celebrity MDR quality or NCL specialty dining.

Welcome aboard receiving line.  Was really fun - they introduce each family and Mickey and Minnie welcome you aboard.

We always start our cruises with mimosas, so after getting our room keys we proceeded to the adult area outdoor bar to have our welcome aboard drink.  

Arriving at the port.  The embarkartion was a little bit of a hot mess.  We got our boarding time but it wasnt well communicated that the covid testing and wait time was 45 min - 1 hour before you can proceed to normal boarding area.  Noone asked us our boarding time and it seemed like it was a free for all with people showing up whenever they wanted.

We drove to the port and parked in the garage.  When you arrive, you will remain in your car to complete the nostril swabs for the covid testing.  After complete you have to stay in the garage until you get an all clear from the safe passage website.  The problem is areas of the garage had no internet service, so we had to walk around until we found a spot where we had a couple of bars to keep checking safe passage.

Once we got the safe to board, it was really quick getting on.  But we didnt really board until about 1.5 hours after our boarding time.  If we did it again, would definately get their early knowing the wait time for testing was so long.  Would recommend getting to the port one hour before your scheduled boarding time.

I overestimated the quality of the wifi on board - ill start posting and downloading photos.  Sorry couldnt update daily.  I tried the 50 free MG and couldnt even get the cruisecritic page opened, so didnt pay for any additional internet because of how slow and long it took.

First time Disney cruiser.  Originally we were doing a transatlantic from Rome to Miami on Norwegian, but wanted to play it safer with a shorter cruise from US port.  We have been on about 5 Norwegian, 5 Celebrity, and 1 Royal cruise.  We normally do a live review and post things like dailys and menus and check on things people may have questions.

My partner and I left DC early afternoon yesterday, stopped in Savannah GA for the night, and continued on to Orlando this morning.  We will leave for the port around 1030 tomorrow.

Will start giving updates when we get to port tomorrow.   If anyone has any questions or wants a photo of anything on the ship, feel free to let me know.  

Thanks both for answers!

Thanks for the review.  We will be on the Dream next week.  First Disney cruise for us.  We dont do buffets so will probably just do the sit down dining.  A few questions:

Are there any add in costs for the other food options on the decks - i think there are food options on the pool decks and a coffee shop?

For the adult area, are they doing karaoke, and what other entertainment in there at night?  We have been on Celebrity before, which is often like a ghost town after 11pm, so we can do our own thing.

Did you do anything on the private island?

What was your favorite parts of the ship?

Appreciate in advance any answers!

Sadly we are rebooking everything again for next year.  Coming up to final payment for a Dec cruise and we are going to punt.  We dont want to pay thousands of dollars and not have the cruise experience we expect.  I applaud everyone going - your efforts will definately help pave the way for normal cruising hopefully in the near future.

Looking at the celebrity release (i assume it mirrors its parent), indivuduals who dont show proof of vaccine will also have to pay an extra $175ish per person to cover the mandatory testing they will have over the cruise, and there will be designated dining and casino areas only for individuals who have provided proof.  I guess they will have some kind of wristband that identifies who is who?

I’d be careful with any cruise out of Italy (I don’t think NCL will be resuming there this year anyways).  The Italian government has been enforcing quarantines and restriction of movement for large periods of the year.  Even if the cruise happens, you could be stuck in quarantine prior to sailing - they just enforced a 5 day quarantine for non-Italian EU citizens during Easter.  

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5988/?et_cid=3417200&et_rid=251694853&et_referrer=Boards%20-%20CC-US
 

I don’t think anyone, including CDC knows what is going on at this point.

CDC:  “Blame Department of Transportation.  They are part of the deciding body to continue to halt cruises.”

DoT:  “No we aren’t.”

Cant make this up.....

2 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

 

Ummm, they are. Americans (me included) are jumping on the RCI cruises sailing out of the Bahamas and Bermuda. No CDC influence there. 

I’m with you.  Already cancelled my NCL transatlantic in Dec and am booking a RCL Caribbean cruise out of Barbados instead.

1 hour ago, FLAHAM said:

Yesterday (March 26), 75,000 new cases, 1,260 new deaths.  

And?  Businesses are back open, restaurants are open, hotels are open, resorts are open.  Sporting events are going to begin to allow fans to attend, both outdoor and indoor.  I don’t see a correlation between 75,000 new cases and 1,260 new deaths to allowing cruise lines to safely begin cruises again with mandatory proof of vaccination for passengers and crew, proof of negative tests prior to sailing, partial capacity sailings, and allowing only US citizens to board ships embarking/disembarking from US ports.

As I was driving through DC yesterday, I’d estimate roughly 1/3 of the people walking around were not wearing masks.  We are going to continue to have new cases and deaths, but it seems like the cruise industry is the only industry shut down.

Celebrity just announced today they are commencing 7 day Caribbean cruises out of St Maarten in June, becoming the 2nd line now to start cruises this summer.  Celebrity’s email says adults with vaccines but children under 18 only need negative test.  It’s just a matter of time before the rest of the cruise lines follow.

Crystal Cruises just announced they are going to do a Bahamas only cruise itinerary starting in July.  Partner already has both vaccine shots, I’m getting my second the end of this month.  Looks like I’ll be cruising this summer.

https://www.luxurytraveladvisor.com/cruises/crystal-cruises-launches-bahamas-escapes-beginning-july-2021

17 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

Aren’t most of the ships in Europe now? I’d have thought it’s likely they will be here whether or not there are summer cruises in Europe.

I don’t know.  My uninformed thoughts are if there won’t be a season there, the ships won’t stay and will preposition to the next season location.  Of course I know nothing of ship operations, maintenance, or just about anything else other than where the bars are located on it.  😎

I’m booked on the Getaway in December.   My worries are similar to yours - I’m just not sure NCL will have a summer-fall season in Europe and the ships won’t even be there to come back.  If that happens, I’ll rebook a Dec Caribbean cruise instead. 

3 hours ago, sanger727 said:

i am very hopeful that cruising will resume by 2022. But the potential challenges I could see are:

1. The vaccines end up not being very effective for new strains

2. the vaccine effectiveness wears off too quickly 

3. The countries the cruise goes to requires all passengers be vaccinated AND vaccine isn’t approved for children yet

4. cruise lines require vaccine for crew but are unable to find enough crew that have been vaccinated/are unable to secure doses for the crew

These are all really good points.  I don’t have much to say on 1 and 2 - other than hope.  What I am hearing from medical people here is  the vaccine might be combined with flu and given annually if it doesn’t last long.  I hope not, but we might be getting this yearly at the start of flu season.

I do think 3 and 4 will eventually be worked out, and am more worried about the first 2.  Cruise lines are losing hundreds of millions of $ and who knows how much tourism revenue some of these ports or are losing.  I don’t think cruise lines will let crew vaccinations stop them from starting up again - they are losing too much monthly.  They will either figure out how to get vaccines for current crew or get and train new crew who are vaccinated.  

1 hour ago, drew69 said:

That is just a little over 10% of the US population.  Also, there is a big world out there beyond the US and the start of cruising, etc. relies on much more than just what works for the US.  

Right - a little over 10% in about the first two months.  There were projected ramp-ups already and two more vaccines waiting for approval.  Assuming retaining 1-1.5M per day which is what we have been seeing most of the year, and that’s another 150M - 225M does given by July.  
 

I get there is a big world out there, but this is big money.  I’m willing to bet the cruise lines start up Caribbean and Mexican cruises this summer if the vast majority of Americans have been vaccinated.  Depending on the status is Europe, wouldn’t surprise me if ships were not repositioned there this year if Europe lags behind the US (which seems to be the case so far).

Almost 40 million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine so far, and I think  I read more than 10 million have received both.  At this rate and with J&J likely to be approved soon, I don’t see why everyone that wants a vaccine won’t have it by early-mid Summer.  Why do people think cruising will still be shut down into 2022?