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Review of 10-Apr-2011 Disney Dream from a Platinum member

bsddsc

By bsddsc,
in Disney Cruise Line

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bsddsc

bsddsc

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We just got back from the April 10-14 sailing of the Disney Dream. Having sailed the Magic, I hope DCL reads these blogs. It really is a beautiful ship. I want them to hear what they did right and a couple things they did wrong. First, a very short summary…..

 

Beautiful ship, Great Food, nice improvements to bars, shopping, Buena Vista Theater, room amenities, cute shows, Remy’s is good but not at all worth the money, Palo’s is a must do as always, poor pool deck layout and staff inexperienced. 4 days is too short, will take a 7 day next time. My rating is 7 out of 10 (losing points for deck 11, staffing issues and charging much to much for Remy’s)

 

Since the needed improvements are short, I’ll start there.

Embarkation – There is a new check in area for Platinum and Concierge, this is actually a good thing. But there needs to be a sign at the top of the escalator telling people where it is (its all the way in the back where the snack stand was). This is rather minor of course. But the bigger problem is the general masses of everyone else are squeezed into a room far too small for the larger ship. They need a lot more room.

 

Deck 11 – I loved the redesign of the adult’s Quiet Cove area, another good thing. But OMG, the family area was packed, much too small for this bigger new ship. The spas in both the adult and family areas are no longer whirlpools with bubbling water and soothing jets, they are nothing more than “hot tubs”. Don’t know why they took away the jets. And the Aft elevators onto Deck 11 do not have access to the outside. You have to push through the dining rooms to get outside. This is not a smart design. Hint – if you want the drink station, take the Mid Ship elevators and walk over from there, much easier. They put in a drink station on both sides of the ship, good, but doesn’t make up for the poor design of Deck 11. Get rid of the Concierge Rooms on that deck and give it back to the pool. I know they can’t change the Dream but they can change the Fantasy.

 

The inexperienced staff – this will improve over time, I know. There has been a lot of turn over in the short life of the Dream, and it shows. Disney’s employee training program, Traditions, teaches you never tell a guess “I don’t’ know”, its “let me find out for you”. All of our Platinum items were missing from our cabin at check in and ship board credits were missing. Too many times we got clueless cast members, who didn’t know what we were talking about, didn’t attempt to find out and some well, rude. We just kept asking different people until we got an answer. This I know will change because the Magic has a wonderful friendly & knowledgeable staff.

 

 

 

 

Now, all the good

  • Beautiful decore, elegant. The animated pictures are really fun. You walk by a picture and it starts to move. The scavenger hunt uses these pictures, not sure how. But I am going to take part in it the next time I’m on the ship.
  • Food – Great! Even the welcome aboard lunch was more upscale than in the past. I had the most wonderful grilled lamb chops from the buffet line. We only ate at Animators Palate because we ate at Palo’s and Remy’s too. The food at Animators was very good, no complaints at all, the Seafood pasta was my favorite entrée. But the rock shrimp cheese cake appetizer on the second night was outstanding. For the people complaining about no healthy food, you were not looking very hard. Even the pool deck has salads, fruit, wraps. For the people complaining DCL’s food is nothing more than cafeteria food, you must be very picky eaters. We go to gourmet wine dinners around Orlando and have gotten spoiled by the great food we get there. Even the very worst DCL cruise has been better than the other 3 lines we cruised. And the Dream was no exception.
  • Palo’s – wonderful as usual. We had both dinner and brunch. Two outstanding meals. Thank you to Thomas our server and Christian, assistant, for great service. Both came from the Magic. Palo’s far outshines Remy’s and is still a must do for both dinner and brunch.
  • Remy’s – OK it was very French. And it was very good. But I would not go back again. It is not worth the extra $75 per person, period. The Tuna and Sea Bass fish dishes we had at Palo’s were far better than those at Remy’s. Between the 2 of us, we had 3 different fish dishes at Remy’s. Not one had the presentation or flavors of Palo’s. I do however recommend the Pigeon Pot Pie entrée for those more adventurous folks. And I loved the cheese course. The desserts were much too sweet. I had the chocolate duo, my husband the poached pears. Neither one of us liked them. The Panna Cotta at Palo’s is still our favorite dessert on any ship in any restaurant. My husband was watching the wines which were served at Remy’s with the extra charge wine pairings. Very average bottles, not worth the hefty $99 extra you paid for them.
  • Staterooms – we went for a 04C Family Veranda Room, a larger sized room than the standard Deluxe Veranda rooms on the Dream and on the Magic. Loved it, would get it again in a heart beat. The higher beds gave more space for suite cases instead of piling them in the closet. Lots of drawer space, we only use 2/3 of what was there. The storage ottoman was another great place to stash things and provides seating. We had enough room to seat 6 adults in the room, with no one having to sit on the bed either. Balcony was the same sized as we had before, with 2 chairs and a small table. The round bathtub had both a hand held shower head and rain head. There were grab bars too, which I really needed.
  • TV – someone wrote that the Dream didn’t have the stations the other ships had. That’s only partially correct. All of the sitcoms, cartoons, kids programming and movie stations were replaced with On Demand programming. Instead of 6 stations to watch, many of which were in the middle of a show at any time, you can select what to watch and start it when you want. If you leave, pause it and view the remainder of your show later. This was fantastic.
  • The Buena Vista Theater – Thank you Disney for improving the movie theater. There is more room between the isles (yes!) and they added drink holders, like the ones in the Walt Disney Theater.
  • Spa – I really miss the $119 in port special. On the Magic, it was 25 min massage, 25 min facial, champagne and all day in the Rain Forest. No such deal. Its just the massage and facial for $125 with no bubbly and no Rain Forest. So I opted for a 50 minute massage and 25 minute facial for $145. Relaxing.
  • Dining Rooms – with the exception of Animator’s Palate and Cabanas, the dining rooms were all elegant and tasteful. Animator’s is much better looking on the Dream than on the other ships. Very Disney cartoons in it style. And the interactive show during dinner was much more interesting and fun than the room color changes on the Magic/Wonder. Cabanas changed from buffet lines and fighting to find a table on the M/W to cafeteria style with a cast member taking you to your table before you get your food. Nice change. As I have said in other threads, Cabanas is a far better place for breakfast than the dining rooms. We always try a dining room and are always disappointed.
  • Bars – lots of new bars. Small in size but several décors to pick from. Skyline, in The District, and Meridian, between Remy and Palo were our favorite. But with the exception of Meridian, The District bars were close to empty every night. No trouble finding seats. But I wish they would put a baby grand and a piano player most the night in a District bar somewhere. I miss that from the other ships.
  • Shopping – more stores, around in a circle. Even the liquor/perfume shop was moved up with the rest of the shops. There didn’t appear to be any daily specials, like there are on the other ships. It could just be because they have more selling space in general.
  • Shows – missed The Golden Mickeys as it was Palo’s night. Villians reminded us of the ad-lib aspect from Hercules, but not quite as funny. Believe was nice but not as good as Dreams on the Magic. Both shows need to pick up the pace, they dragged. But the kids will still love them.
  • Disembarkation – thank goodness they didn’t mess with a good thing. We got off the ship super fast. Disney has every other cruise line beat in this area. I hate having to sit around in some bar for hours waiting for my number to disembark. Disney lets you leave when you are ready. The lines move fast and we were on our way in no time.

If anyone wants more details, I'd be happy to answer. I will also be posting some phones. When I am done with them, I'll add the link.

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bsddsc

bsddsc

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As promised, I just posted a few photos on my FB page. Not many. But people always are looking for stateroom photos. If you don't have FB and want to see the stateroom photos, I am going to try to post them in the photos area here on CC too.

 

We had a category 04C room and I truely loved the extra space. Veranda is the same size but the room changes is what makes it nice.

 

We also have photos from a galley tour but thought they may be a bit boring for folks. Let me know if you want to see them.

 

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Lynzchat

Lynzchat

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Thanks so much for sharing your review. Our family is taking DCL for the first time. I can't wait to compare it with HAL, RC, Carnival and Princess. I've heard many many great reviews. Our trip is in June, I sure hope the employees get better, most reviews I've read talk about the inexperienced staff.

 

I tried to view your photos but it said it was not available.

 

Thanks again,

Lyn:D:D

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bsddsc

bsddsc

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I tried to view your photos but it said it was not available.

 

Thanks again,

Lyn:D:D

try this, its a public link to the various albums

 

Cabin 7104

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1670929693467&id=1244108843&aid=225336&l=c88806ae7f

 

Spa and Quiet Cove

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1671020775744&id=1244108843&aid=225345&l=8c6ece13cf

 

Deck 3 - Main Entrance deck

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1669473257057&id=1244108843&aid=225227&l=50cbc34d34

 

Restaurants

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1670957254156&id=1244108843&aid=225339&l=3af4490de7

 

Shopping

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1670923453311&id=1244108843&aid=225335&l=0bc411dc5a

 

In my review, I forgot to mention the electric saver feature in the Dream. You have to put one of your key to the World cards into a slot by the door to trigger the electricity in the room. When you pull the card out to exit, the lights, tv etc turn off in about 15 seconds.

 

The refridgerator, clock and walk-talkie chargers do stay on. And the room did maintain its cooling properly. You can over ride this feature by putting any old credit card sized card into the slot, it really is not tied to your DCL card. I only mention the over ride because some people may walk out of their rooms without taking their card out of the slot.

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BearJim

BearJim

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yes, and several showings were in 3d and the 3D actually worked well on this cruise. We saw Tangled in 3D.

 

Our last cruise on the Magic, the 3D didn't work at all.

 

Funny thing is I bought Tangled on Blu-ray but have been waiting to see if it would be showing on the boat before I watched it. I'd rather see it on the big screen 1st. Hopefully they are still showing it on the May 8th cruise. Thanks again for the reply. It taking forever for the cruise to get here!

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