2014 DVC Members Cruise/WDW Trip

We will be spending our last full day here at Epcot. Last night was basically a washout with the storm. The day looks very good this morning, but this afternoon might become stormy again, so we'll try to do as much as we can in the morning.

Zz.

Continuing with the cruise report, this is where we were standing during departure, right on Deck 13, and up front.

This is the view out from the front of the ship right after the Princess of the Sea left ahead of us.

And we're off! A view of the many people lining up the coast to look at the departing ships.

Open waters, here we come!

Zz.

Having lunch at Spice Road Table at Morocco. The view is wonderful and the food is unbelievable. We just added more plates to our order. This is becoming my most favorite restaurant at World Showcase.

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On the Epcot monorail heading to the contemporary.

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Continuing wit the cruise reports.

Our first dinner on the cruise was at the Enchanted Garden. They printed a special menu for the member cruise.

For entree, I had the seared scallops with couscous.

Another entree at our table was the prime rib.

Of course, we all had desserts.

There were a lot more food to come on this cruise.

Zz.

We are packing up this morning to make our 2-day drive home. Our vacation is over!!!!!

I'll catch up on the cruise report once I get home.

Zz.

Thanks everyone. We now just south of Atlanta, making good time on our drive. We will probably stop for the night after the mountains.

I have a lot more to report on especially on the navigator app and a very moving scene I saw on our last day. Those will wait till get back and recover.

Zz.

Good morning from Franklin, Kentucky.

We spent the night after a long day of driving. I think we have only 6 hours left of driving before getting into the Chicago area.

I have some time this morning before we all go out for breakfast. So here's a few more photos from the cruise.

Donald immediatelly got himself comfy in our state room. After all, as he kept reminding us throughout the cruise, this is HIS ship, since he is the Admiral of The Dream.

This is the familiar view of the atrium.

Donald was very happy to be on the ship.

Now, I knew that I would be gorging out on a lot of food, so I decided to check the Fitness Center that evening. And yes, I did use it a couple of times for good workouts during the cruise ... just so I could eat more!

Zz.

Greetings from home!

We got in about an hour ago. It was a fun drive with our friends, but I don't think I want to do it again. It is just too long of a car ride.

In any case, I have photos to download to my 'puter, and then will try to catch up on the report. We had a great time, but I'm also glad to be home.

Zz.

Continuing with the cruise report.

Our first full day on the cruise saw us making the first of two visits to Castaway Cay. The ship pulled in rather early in the morning.

A few people were on the top deck to see the ship approaching the island.

As soon as we got onto Castaway Cay, we headed straight to Serenity Bay.

We had a nice relaxing morning and stayed there till lunch time. Even though there was a nice breeze, it was still a hot and humid day. I could only take the heat and humidity only for so long. So after lunch, we made our way back to the ship. Still, along the way, I snapped several photos. They had banners almost all over the place for the Member Cruise.

One last look at our ship before we boarded it.

We spent the rest of the day on board in the cool comfort of the Disney Dream.

Zz.

Now that I'm home, I had a closer look at the snapshots that MrHub posted of the Disney Dream departure, and I'm almost certain that I found our group, circled in red. The arrow points to me.

I think we are also on a couple of other shots in there.

Great job of doing the capture, MrHub!

Zz.

I know! You can't go anywhere anymore right now without being captured on some camera or webcam!

Continuing with the report, after we got back to the ship from the hot and humid Castaway Cay, and after a needed shower and outfit change, I had time to wonder about the Dream a bit and captured a few snapshots, especially now that a lot of the passengers are off the ship.

I also decided to participate in a tour of the ship. This is a similar tour that I took the last time I was on the Dream in 2012, which I had described on that trip report. It covered almost the same thing, but with a few new info and twists.

Here we were in Remy, taking a look around the restaurant.

Of course, I had to snap a photo of the "hidden Remy", which I was told is worth around $30,000.

I took another snap of the John Lessetter wines which are kept in Remy.

This was our cast member tour guide, Jamezy.

It was a fun and informative tour of The Disney Dream. I learned that Remy is the ONLY lead Disney animated character that KNOWINGLY drank alcohol.

Zz.

The evening after we departed Castaway Cay was Pirate Night, even though it was only one 2nd evening on The Dream. Our restaurant rotation was the Royal Palace. The servers were all dressed in pirate costumes, as were many of the guests.

As the night before, we brought up the Pirate Night menu, and this one once again had a "Member Cruise" logo on it.

Donald was very intrigue by the menu. I think he was just checking to make sure they were not serving duck.

Here were our appetizers:

And here are a couple of the entree. I had the grilled lobster tail, which I thought was overcooked and tough, even though it had good flavor.

And of course, the desserts.

Our servers were big Donald fans, so they got picture with him.

I was definitely stuffed by the end of the dinner.

Zz.

The next day, our 3rd day of the cruise, is a day at sea. Despite that, we had plenty of activities. There were always the DVC booth, the Adventures by Disney booth, the Disney Cruise line people, the RCI booth, etc.. etc. And there were scheduled DVC presentations, meet-and-greet with DVC executives, RCI presentations, etc.. etc. The booths all had giveaways (we LOVE giveaways!), and almost all of the presentations that we attended had stuff they were giving out to attendees, in addition to free drinks, snacks, etc., as if we didn't have enough to eat already. I will try to snap photos of these things once I organize all the crap... er ... stuff that I got from the cruise.

This was one of the DVC presentations that was done at Evolution, the adult dance club on the ship.

We also attended many activities. We took Donald to the family craft class where we made ceramic tile coasters. Of course, Donald took credit for it.

We also attended a cooking class on how to make lobster ravioli. The chefs in this class used store-bought wonton skin to make the ravioli, but at the end of the class, we were given some samples, and these were made using fresh pasta. There was also a white wine paring for the ravioli and we were given some to go with the ravioli.

Throughout the cruise, we participated in several trivia games, all based on various aspects of Disney, and we did not win a single one of them. These are really hard core Disney fans, and there were a few times when we had friendly arguments about the wording of the questions that could have resulted in different answers. Remember that I told you way in the beginning of this trip report that I will be on a ship full of Disney fanatics? Every single one of the trivia games we participated verified this point very clearly!

That evening, we had our second dinner at The Royal Palace, but this time, it no longer has the pirate theme. We also had a surprise cake for the couple we were with since they were a few days away from celebrating their wedding anniversary.

The cake was delicious and light.

After dinner, I decided to wonder around the top deck of the Dream and snap a few photos. I've not done much of this on this cruise because the weather was just too oppressively hot and humid, even at night. So this was one of the few times that I actually ventured up on the top deck during the cruise.

Zz.

So you'd think that was the end of the evening that day, but it wasn't.

I went down to Deck 3 and was in the Preludes area in between all of the stores. The place was buzzing. First of all, Donald and Daisy were having their meet-and-greet time.

Now, remember them, and where they were, because it would come into play and became one of the most hilarious moments of the entire cruise.

At the same time as the Donald-Daisy meet-and-greet, several Disney legends were there, including Marty Sklar, Tony Baxter, and Alice Davis. There were there as a group to snap a few photos. I sneaked in to snap photos of them among the official photographers. The photos were not well-focused because I couldn't stay still long enough to get a good shot.

Now remember, throughout all this, Donald and Daisy were right behind this group of people, having their own meet-and-greet. It was during this time, while photos of the Disney Legends were being taken, Donald walked over behind this group of people and started to jump up and down trying to get into the picture. Donald was photo-bombing the Disney legends!!!!

I was hysterically laughing so hard, I didn't have time to take out my camera to snap a photo! That would have been precious!

All in all, it was a wonderful day at sea.

Zz.

The 4th and last full day of the cruise saw us coming back to Castaway Cay. Early in the morning, I can see the ship approaching the island from the virtual porthole.

I went up to the top deck to get more snapshot of Castaway Cay.

But first things first. Before we got off the ship, we had a hearty breakfast in the Cabanas... eggs, steaks, corned beef hash, breakfast potatoes, and croissant. It's the breakfast of champions!

It was still a hot and humid morning, and we weren't planning on staying long, just enough to buy a few things and snap a few photos.

People were leaving the ship and making their way to the beaches.

Goofy, on the other hand, was already out and about, and doing his power walk.

The DVC Member Cruise banners were still present, but I could tell that a few things were missing and others were not where they were when we first got here. I'm sure there was another Disney ship visiting Castaway Cay yesterday in between our two stops here.

We didn't stay too long and got back to the ship around lunch time. This was where we saw the other hilarious situation when we were about to board the ship and went through security. Captain Hook was right in front of us, trying to board The Dream, and he was having a problem in trying to get through the metal detector with his hook!

That, however, didn't delay me much from reaching the Cabanas and having my lunch. Yum!

Zz.