!! DISNEY DREAM !! To Bahamas ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide

[gambee]

Gambee, do you remember what time you returned back to the ship? Want to avoid lines for the Aqua Duck.

 

We were walking up the stairs of the AquaDuck at 12:20. I know from the info in my pictures :). But you should be fine from 9am-2pm, then the line starts forming again. My mom actually wanted to go at 9am, but we decided to head down to island instead.

[monkey_wants_banana]

The rating part will come at the end of the review, I will post it here before I post it on my site. I haven't even wrote it yet, although I am very sure of what the outcome will be in the end. They are two complete different products, and it is hard to compare them side to side. But it is fair to say that as an overall product I prefer the Disney.

 

This makes you an even worse person.

 

I still have yet to book a cruise on Allure, and it looks like Disney will follow shortly thereafter.

 

How do you expect me to pay for this when I spend all my time sitting at home living vicariously through your posts :D?

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

We did back-to-backs a few weeks ago, and gosh...we missed a ton of stuff!

 

We have been to 25ish Caribbean islands, and I thought the Serenity Bay area of Castaway Cay held up very well to beaches we have enjoyed the most. It's fantastic. My husband didn't snorkel in the area with the underwater features, but went out to an area near one of the sandbars off Serenity Bay. He saw a live conch and then a barracuda. And then he came back. :eek:

 

Beautiful pictures, thank you for sharing. :)

[nickthecruiser]

Great videos Gambee!Thanks for taking the time to do this! Loved the underwater pictures.

[big al]

The rating part will come at the end of the review, I will post it here before I post it on my site. I haven't even wrote it yet, although I am very sure of what the outcome will be in the end. They are two complete different products, and it is hard to compare them side to side. But it is fair to say that as an overall product I prefer the Disney.

 

Gambee- First, great review so far, and your videos were terrific!! I have been telling EVERYBODY ( mostly RCI Pax because we cruise them the most) that they must try a Disney Cruise just once- they always say, "oh, it' sooo expensive", or, " too many kids" or "what are we ( adults) going to do on Disney?"..for the record, the 3 night Valentine's Day cruise we did on the Allure this past Feb., was just as expensive as our FOUR night Dream cruise upcoming in Nov... .like I said, my wife & I went on the Disney Wonder in '06 for only 3 nights like you, and we loved it...in fairness to what others say about $$, Disney doesn't seem to discount much- very few cruises at a Senior rate, or AAA, or Florida Resident, or even past guest.. I want to try and go someday on the Disney Fantasy for a full week, but it is pretty $$...next up is the 5 night Oasis Halloween cruise in Oct. '14...but I know you saw the QUALITY of their ships, cabins are great, buffet great, service great, and like you, we thought Castaway Cay was fantastic...after all it is Disney!!

 

Alan

[theshowmestate]

Great reviews and awesome pics, thanks! I have the Canon Powershot D10 as my underwater camera and want to replace it as the lens fogs quite a bit. Do you eve experience that with the Olympus? The pics you're posting taken with it look great.

[sarahecohen]

Looking at the pics of merchandise at Castaway Cay now I wish I bought a t shirt there. :/ next time!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[finiansbay]

Gamble,

Once again you are doing an outstanding job. You got me hooked with your review of the Allure as we are traveling soon on the Oasis. But first we will be on our favorite ship, the Dream, so I have enjoyed this review even more. I have read many trip reports on CC and TA, and no one comes close to capturing the feeling of "being there" as you do. Your photography skills are legendary at this point. You are nonjudgmental, informative, and your reviews are just plain fun to read. Those of us who are mothers also appreciate the genuine affection you show for your mom. Not only should cruise lines be offering you a free cruise, but Target should be grateful as well. I happened upon a very good deal today as I (almost) passed by the camera department. There it was, the Sony Nex F3... On sale for $399. They even gave me an extra 10% off because it was the last one and I took the display model. :p

[perfect match]

I'm all caught up. Loving your review and the videos are amazing! I really appreciate all the time you have put into it! Thank you!

[ssnewbie]

Gambee, you are amazing! Your reviews are amazing. I was so excited to see that you had a new review, I started dancing in my seat.

I never considered a Disney Cruise before, and now I am begging my husband to do one next year.

 

Keep up the good work, we really appreciate it!

[gambee]

I guess I took some fisheye pictures during the video tour and here they are. As much as some people hate that lens, I have to say that is my favorite creative lens. I think I made the right decision at selling the ultra-wide lens. But I am very happy that I never considered selling the fisheye lens.

 

 

 

Crazy how straight the tube came out,

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

Would you believe me if I said that I just noticed the rainbow right now? I swear to you, how crazy is that?

 

 

We all went back to the room and relaxed for a little while. Sarah wanted to see the last show, so she got ready to head to to Theater. When she came out she started Browsing through the TV and noticed that they stream the show live. So she decided to see it in the TV instead. I watched parts of it, but honestly is the same as any other show, singing, dancing, stages, etc. You know by now that I really could care less about shows, maybe on a longer cruise. But honestly I think I rather be watching something like "Planes" or "Monsters University". It is really odd, I am not entirely sure why I dislike shows so much. Possibly all the singing, I can't do musical movies either. I do however enjoy live comedy shows, specially the rated R ones :D.

 

Anyway I guess at some point either before or after Sarah watched the Show. I got a video of the TV system aboard the Disney Dream, their movie selection is incredible!

 

Here it is,

 

 

[gambee]

 

I think in the mean time my mom was getting ready. As usual I grabbed my computer and played some music outside, while I worked on my pictures. I also took a few more pictures.

 

 

Fishing boat in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

I was in the process of getting long sequence video. I did get it but it was just boring so I decided not to post it.

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

Then I got ready and we headed to Animators Palate. A funny story happened here. My mother and Sarah were walking ahead of me, and I was just slightly behind them. In between us there were two little girls, the girls were walking towards their father who was ahead of them. I guess I was walking with my drink when one of the girls suddenly stopped out of nowhere. I could not stop in time and I bumped into her just slightly. As I bumped into her, a little of my drink spilled on her head, I almost died. I don't think she noticed, since she just kept walking and then jumping. It was then that I figured they were playing some kind of game.

 

So anyway we all started walking again, and a little boy comes running out of his room. He was nervous and disoriented, I guesshe must of thought that I was his father because he grabbed my leg and held on it. I was unsure of what was going on… I said hi to him, and he just looked at me. Then I noticed the father of the girls just laughing and he said something like " He found a new daddy". He was his father as well, everything happened so fast that I trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually he let go and made a dash towards his father. It was a funny little event, my mom and Sarah had a quick laugh on it.

 

Anyway I guess eventually we made it to Animators Palate. I have to admit this is by far my favorite restaurant. It just follows the disney concept in every way possible. It is just a very a fun restaurant.

 

 

 

 

Those are all screens and they change as the dinner goes on

 

 

 

[gambee]

Just look at those chairs and the carpet.

 

 

 

 

Check out all the details,

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

The menu

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

So as the dinner starts they dim the restaurant, and a little movie plays. The Characters move from screen to screen, and crush interacts with some people. Usually kids, I never saw him interacting with any adults. It is kind of like the Nemo ride on Epcot center, but with dinner included. Very neat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

The restaurant is beautifully lit.

 

 

 

Here is a short video before they dim the restaurant.

 

 

[gambee]

Sarah and I got the Truffle pasta and my mom got the Risotto, everything was fantastic!

 

 

 

Then our server insisted that we get salad and soup. I think it is because of timing for the show in the restaurant, they have to keep everyone there for a certain amount of time and we usually eat very fast.

 

Mom got the avocado salad, it was not on the menu, but our server told us it would be no problem. My mom was happy that this time it actually came with some avocado, although not that much. I got some sort of soup, it was good I guess. And Sarah got another salad, honestly I am not sure what we got.

 

 

 

Notice the plate is different on my moms salad.

 

 

[gambee]

In between meals the cartoons pass around the screens, very cute.

 

 

Crush interacting.

 

 

 

Ok so for dinner I got the veal trio, it was just ok. I actually liked the pasta in bottom the best.

 

 

Sarah got the Ginger Beef, tasted nothing like Ginger. It was the best out of the 3 dishes.

 

 

And mom got the low carb beef dish. It was good.

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

For dessert our server pulled the same little stunt as the day before and got us all 2 desserts.

 

I am never a fan of these samplers on cruise ships. They are usually below par.

 

 

The chocolate sunday was pretty good

 

 

[gambee]

Dinner was really good and the service was great as usual. We tipped extra to all 3 of team, they really did a great job. It was actually the last day of work of our server before he got his vacation, you can only imagine how happy he was.

 

After dinner we headed to the room for a drink, I took a few pictures on the way up. I think we went for a little stroll before heading to the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2013 by gambee

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

Once in the room we noticed a swan waiting for us, with more chocolate… It is not like we needed it…

 

 

A few more pictures of the balcony

 

 

 

 

We changed and headed to the Adult area to enjoy the Jacuzzi one last time. It was pretty empty up there, most people were probably busy packing.