Jeff and Joe's DREAM-Y Cruise Report *Day 3 Added*

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Jeff and Joe's DREAM-Y Cruise Report *Day 3 Added*

Joe and I had our first DCL experience last week! We were celebrating Joe's birthday and selected a 3 night Bahamian cruise on the Disney Dream.

Our departure day was Friday, March 1, out of Port Canaveral with stops in Nassau on March 2 and Castaway Cay on March 3, and back to Port Canaveral on March 4.

Here's a link to some of our pics; you don't need a Snapfish account or log in info to view.

https://www.snapfish.com/share?via=link&token=hJADnVgK3IcL-6QS33S6qg/SFO/27949895764060/SNAPFISH


Embarkation Day
Our check in time was 12:15 to 12:30; we got to Port Canaveral at Noon and parked in the garage. (Parking for the entire trip was $68. Preferred parking is another $20; not sure of the value since we were pretty close to the terminal and there were plenty of spots in the garage)

Easy run through Security and we were immediately directed to a counter, where we signed the "Are you sick?!????" questionnaire, had our passports checked and we were given our Key to the World card. After that we were told "Open boarding; feel free to get right on!" So we did. Captain Mickey was taking pics in front of the ship model so we waved but went on our way.

Quick stop for a boarding picture and then to the welcome committee, where they announced our arrival party, everyone clapped and welcomed us on board! And by this time it was maybe 12:45. Woo!

Rooms weren't ready until 1:30 (and they have blue ribbons up across the room areas preventing you from going beyond the staircase/elevator area!) so we explored the upper decks. The ship is fascinating!! And huge!

We decided to check out Cabanas for lunch and since it wasn't too busy, we opted for that, and took an outside seat. Food was good and plentiful and the view was great.

They let us to our rooms right at 1:30, our luggage was already at our door. Nice! We had a backpack with a few essentials that we carried on, but getting our stuff so quickly and getting unpacked right away was nice.

VERANDAHS ARE AWESOME!! So glad we went with a verandah room. It was well worth it. And the sage advice for port side came in handy at Castaway Cay, where we backed into Port.

Muster drill was interesting (and loud!) but once that was done, we were off! What an experience for the first time! It was hard to notice we were moving, but when I looked directly down from the 14th deck to the ocean I felt a little woozy. So I found the horizon and was fine. And after an hour I was totally used to it and could look down no problem. And no seasickness for the entire cruise for either of us! YAY!

We spent a good hour or so just watching from the top deck, enjoying the adult area and lounge chairs, got a tropical drink and relaxed as the shoreline became distant and faded away.

After looking through the Navigator we decided we wanted to see the Golden Mickeys show and Ralph Breaks the Internet. And we decided that our 8:15 seating for dinner was too late for us to eat so we opted for room service instead. We ordered the buffalo wings, grilled cheese and steak sandwich and split it all. Was all pretty good. The cake of the day was something pumpkin which wasn't all that appealing so we got cookies, which were quite good!

The Golden Mickeys show was really really good; we opted for the balcony seating which allowed us a broader view. After that we headed over to the Buena Vista movie theater for Ralph Breaks the Internet. At 10:30 pm. It was just about 2 hours long. I may have fallen asleep during certain parts....we called it a night by 1 am. Which is waaaaaaay past my bedtime! But a great day, our room was turned down with towel animals and chocolates!! Now I want that every day.

JoAnn C's picture
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glad you had a great time. Off to look at your pictures

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JMed's picture
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Oh my goodness I have been looking forward to this!!! First of all, please tell Joe happy birthday! What a way to spend one and I know!!!!

Love the pictures, instantly made me wish I was back on the boat. It's such an amazing feeling looking out over the open ocean muchlove

I don't think I have EVER made it to 1am on a cruise so kudos to you two! I CAN NOT wait to hear about the rest!!!

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Can't wait to hear more!

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Yay! Can't wait to here the rest! We're barely a month after ours and I miss the boat so much already!

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Day 2: Nassau!

Day 2 of our cruise was Nassau. Going into the cruise we had our reservations about Nassau and getting off the ship, strolling around, and port adventures. The State Department has a travel advisory to exercise increased caution, due to violence in and around the area, even in broad daylight. I'd read tons of personal reports, good and bad, on the Disney Cruise Junkies forum. Part of me loves to explore and part of me has no interest in taking risks, especially outside our home country.

That's the backdrop as we woke up and took a few minutes to appreciate our verandah! We could see the Nassau port in the near horizon so we figured we had just enough time to grab showers, get dressed and work our way up to Deck 14 to watch the ship dock! And that's exactly what we did.

I was kinda hoping that we would back in, as I had been watching a Nassau Port Cam for weeks and was fascinated by how these huge ships do a 180 to back into the docks! But it turned out we pull straight into the port. Which was still fascinating to watch! Smooth as silk.

Our ship was the very first one to dock. We could see another one a bit further out so we knew we'd have company soon. (And said ship backed in, which was equally fascinating to watch from another ship!).

We headed down to Cabanas for breakfast and decided that we would get off the ship, check out the Festival Place and wander the shops just one block over. No further though. I had originally planned to walk to the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle, but the advisories scared us off.

It was about 9:30 am when we decided to disembark and check out Nassau. TIP #1: Don't be among the first ones off the ship in Nassau!! Wow! Lesson learned!!! The taxi drivers, tour drivers and vendors are like vultures! Which I knew because I read all about it. I just didn't realize how few people had gotten off the ship so far, so we were targets for everyone. I can't say anyone was overly pushy or aggressive and most quickly backed off with a polite "no thanks" or "not interested thanks". But it was a swarm! Haha.

We also learned that it was still a little early for some of the vendors to be opened at the Festival Place so in additional to being swarmed, there was nothing to see. We worked our way out to the main shopping street (Bay Street I believe) and walked around. We didn't feel not safe but we had our guard up.

We made our way down to the Straw Market, and gain, since it was still early not all the vendors were open and set up. I didn't care for it at all " the aisles were so narrow I knocked over a coffee mug, and everyone was wanting to make a deal today! So we decided to hit up Starbucks instead. We paid in cash and for change got a Bahamian dollar so free souvenir! The Starbucks had an upstairs so we wandered up and people watched for a little bit.

We decided that we enough adventure for us and headed back to the ship. And by now there were at least 2 other ships at port and people were filling up the area.

Once back on, we had a fun afternoon playing mini-golf, fooz ball, ping pong and enjoying the adult deck. Oh, and the line was short so we rode the AquaDuck! Boy that was fun.

I had also ordered a specialty cake for Joe's birthday and that was delivered to the room. It was nicely packaged and I brought along some candied birthday lettering so I added that and we celebrated the Big 4-0! DCL also left him a nice birthday card and button in our stateroom. He would not let me be obnoxious and make a scene about it " he said that's my thing. Which is true....

For dinner Cabanas was offering a sit down dinner so we decided to do that. It was really good (we both had steak), though the dish of fingerling potatoes was way too garlicy for me so I asked for a side of mashed potatoes instead.

The evening show was Beauty and the Beast, and the adaption for the ship show was really creative and good. We thoroughly enjoyed. TIP #2: Call room service 30 minutes before you plan to leave for the show and order warm chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal cookies (or both!) and take the plate with you to the show! The popcorn and candy at the theater cost $, but room service was free J

This was also Pirate Night, so after the show we wandered up to the main pool deck area grabbed a viewing spot. The Pirate Party was fun to watch, and people really went all-out dressing to theme. In our staterooms earlier were Pirate bandanas, and of course I brought my Pirate Ears, so we fit right in.

The fireworks were fun to watch " fireworks at sea = amazing! Afterwards was a pirate buffet (10:30 pm) " featuring tacos! Haha. I can't eat tacos at 10:30 pm but plenty of people could! Instead I tried for a piece of pistachio pie (which was mediocre) and then got ice cream with caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, mini marshmallows and chocolate shavings. I know, I can't eat a taco but I can eat that. Believe me, I paid for it all night. I'd do it again though. Haha!

And that was our Saturday.....

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Some additional pics from our day at Nassau.

1. Pulling into Port
2. From the adult deck looking out - another ship heading in
3. A Carnival ship.docked next to us
4. They Carnival ship had Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head photo op.... eek
5. Towel/blanket animal and chocolates at night time (not 100% sure I know what it is - haha)
6. Warm chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies and a Mickey Ice Cream Bar from Room Service - Yay!

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Sounds like you had a great time! Tell Joe Happy belated Birthday from us. birthday

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Sounds like another fabulous day. We walked to the staircase on our honeymoon, 5 years ago, it wasn't bad, very quiet on the way back which spazzed me out a bit but it was really cool.

Can't wait to hear about Castaway!!!! I love watching them shoot the ropes out to the dock. It's been a tradition since our first cruise!!

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"I do not like the cone of shame."

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell."

"It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell."

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I will, thank you!

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I'm not a Nassau fan. We got off the ship once there and went to the zoo, but it was just so sad and depressing. Nassau day is usually ship day for us, besides there is so much to do on the ship! Sounds like a pretty fair day overall.

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Day 3 Castaway Cay Day!

This was the day I was looking forward to most. An island all to ourselves! Well, and a few thousand of our closest cruise friends....ha!

We had signed up for the Castaway Cay 5K run/walk and our instructions were to meet at the Evolution lounge at 8 am. Joe and I were up at 6:30 and headed up to Cabanas for breakfast by 7 am. We were just about docked at the Port so we grabbed an outside seat and watched them back the ship in. That's always cool!

We got to Evolution right about 8 am and they were just opening up the lounge to let the participants in. WE were given race numbers and pointed to a few tables with safety pins to attach them to our clothes. After a few instructions about how we would disembark and where we would be going, the group headed out and made our way off the ship.

The first sights of the island were spectacular. It was a beautiful morning and we were happy to be where we were! The walk to the starting line was a little longer than I was expecting. We had brought a backpack with sun screen, changes of clothes and some water, and we were pointed to a chest by the starting line to store our stuff. For as many people as there were, the chest was not big enough.

We started right about 9 am and made our way to the airstrip, then did the first loop, headed out to Serenity island, turned around, did the second loop and headed to the finish line. Took us about 45 minutes " we jogged a little and walked a little. Not bad for an old man. There were stations along the way with water and you were encouraged to keep your cup and have it refilled at the water stations, which we did.

At the end we collected our medals! Yay us!

With that completed, we decided to catch the tram to Serenity beach. We probably could have walked there just as fast, given the walk in the other direction to the tram and then the wait for the tram.

Once we got to Serenity Beach, we found 2 hammocks in the shade and staked out claim. The sand was nice and white and the water was gorgeous clear blue. There were already CMs filling drink orders (it's always 5 o'clock at sea, apparently!) so we just hung out for an hour or so and watched the sea.

I'd been dying to get in the water, so we went for a short swim. The water was probably in the mid-70s' which is fine by me but Joe would prefer something with an 8 in front of it. We wandered out as far as the buoyed area would allow, which was only maybe 3 feet deep max. I only wish it was deeper so I could actually swim.

We decided that now was a good time to check out the Stand Up Paddle boarding! We kept passing the entrance to that area but after 3 tries found it. Maybe we were just tired from the run!

After a few brief instructions, we were pointed to our boards and 2 CMs who would help us launch. We started off kneeling on the boards until we were comfortable standing up.

I should note that in my head, I'm pretty sure I'll be awesome at this. In my younger days I was a balancing fool, and light as a feather. I water skied and snow skied, ice skated. I got mad balancing skilz!!

Reality quickly set it and it became apparent than I really am no longer 25. Or even 35. I'm just a old man.....it was really hard to balance on that thing! Of course Joe got up and to it much quicker than I did. Whatever.....but after about 15 minutes of paddling around on my knees I managed to stand up. I only fell once, and landed on the board vs. in the water.

We did this for about 30 minutes, and it was exhausting!!! But I can cross it off my "have to try list!" (and probably don't need to do it again. I need something motorized....ha!)

We spent the next few hours just checking out the island, watching people and kids play in the water, eating and drinking tropical drinks. The barbeque for lunch was pretty good. I thought the music right outside the food place was a bit too loud (which again affirms that I'm just a old man).

We headed back to the ship around 3 and just hung out there until cast off.

2 things to note here:
1. I got sunburned on my head. I did not have my hat and didn't use enough sunscreen. And that sun was intense. My own fault and I was peeling a few days later. I haven't gotten sunburned in 20+ years...oops.
2. Towels: OMG why was it so hard to find a towel?? We wandered all around trying to find and even after asking could not find where you get a towel! Everyone else had them. Everyone but us! It felt like we were on a scavenger hunt, and losing. We finally found a CM that went and got us 2 from his station.

All in all the island is beautiful and I could stay there for months.

That evening, we hit up Luigi's for some pizza (pretty good), ordered room service for warm cookies to take to the final stage show " Believe!

Believe was awesome. All the shows were awesome. Disney sure does do that right and well.

We grabbed some ice cream (again) and headed back to our room to pack and prepared for departure the next morning.

See pics below.

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Castaway Day Day Pics!

The last pic is the view from our verandah. Spectacular. Thank you Kristen!!! It was your advice that made me get the side with the view of the Cay!!!! muchlove muchlove

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A few more

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And we just got our Castaway Club magnet today! Yay!!

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uuuugggggghhhhhh I wanna go on another Disney cruise. I am soooooo depressed I don't have one booked!

Sounds like you had a fabulous trip. Believe is my favorite of the shows, it always makes my little heart happy!

Thanks for sharing with us!

__________________

"I do not like the cone of shame."

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell."

"It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell."

Jennifer Huotari | Create Your Badge

The Huotari's Disney Adventures | Promote Your Page Too

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Awesome trip! Way to go on the 5K yay Glad you guys had a good time. I want to try paddle boarding sometime. My balance isn't very good though laugh

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Good job on the 5K! So glad that you loved the island. muchlove