The Sasquatch
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2012
We just got back from our 5th cruise on the Dream on 4/18. We had an unbelievable time and this was our first cruise in a 1 Bedroom Concierge room and having a cabana on Castaway Cay. I will update this thread with some pictures and a write up but would be happy to answer any questions in the meantime!
I took some time to start writing my thoughts on our trip and have updated below. I will try and add the rest tomorrow...
UPDATE 5/2-
I think other people may have similar questions to what we had even though this was our 5th cruise. I wanted to write this as more of a regular family's impression of our experience jumping up to concierge and if the extra money is really worth it or not. I read countless opinions on the boards and to be honest, I was left with the same open questions because concierge really seems to be polarizing to people. Either you are for it or against it and it goes to the extreme. I am going to be as straightforward as I can without any bias and hopefully that helps the people out there that felt like me before the trip.
So with that being said...
We are a family of three, my wife and I are in our early 40's and our daughter is 9. We are huge Disney fans and had been visiting Walt Disney World for many years. My wife and I have been approximately 50 times and this was my daughters 13th. We visit at least once a year and try for 2 most times. We always stay on property, usually at The Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, and Boardwalk in a 1 bedroom villa. We are at the point where we spend as many pool days as we do park days and we are in no rush to do anything we can always do on our next trip. We are not “rope droppers” and consider ½ days in the park, some pool time, a nap, and a good dinner at a signature restaurant/Disney Springs an awesome day. We are very “conservative” with our food choices and mostly go with steak and potatoes or Italian. ( I know you don’t care but I think that makes a difference in our review. I will add details later!) We decided in 2012 we wanted a new Disney “1st” and decided to try a short 3 night cruise on the Dream. Well let me tell you after we both pondered our decision for months that included many night of regretting our decision, once we got on the ship we were hooked. And by hooked I mean my wife who is petrified about water and will only travel to places she is comfortable (ie Walt Disney World) cannot stop planning our next cruise after she gets back. Like I said earlier, we had done 4 prior cruises on the Dream, all on deck 10 aft in a family verandah. We had a combination of 3 and 4 nights and we normally do pre and post stays at Universal and Walt Disney World. We have travelled 2 cruises prior with just the 3 of us, we had one with good friends and their two children, and one with 16 people both friends and family. (The large group is a lot of fun if you can convince enough people. We normally cruise April or October, and we have our favorite server Christopher “Danger” Phillips from Jamaica most of the time. Like I said we stay with whats comfortable and works for us. We do not book at midnight on opening day, we don’t use OBB, and we basically pick a cruise during the year that’s less expensive than the others and then worry about vacations and missing school etc. We use Teresa at Dreams and book with the minimum deposit and use every possible day we have to pay off the final balance. What I am getting at is we are a normal middle/upper middle class family with real life bills. mortgage, cars, school, etc, etc, etc. Just like we search for the best prices on the cruise, we wait until there is a 30% WDW offer so we can book a villa.We wont go until its the right price.
So that brings us to cruise number 5, the illustrious “GOLD” cruise. I hope I am not breaking anyones heart but you are officially gold AFTER your 5th cruise. Damn you DCL! (although I am not entirely certain what gold gets me anyway…) But wait, you do get a gold KTTW card in concierge so you can put that in your lanyard and flaunt it around the boat. Just like everyone else, we debated upgrading to concierge but we had some extra money and we picked a very reasonably priced cruise to do a 1 bedroom suite. Just like we are normally in a 1 bedroom villa at WDW, we thought just having the extra space might be worth the price alone. That and the ability to hopefully get to try a cabana on CC were our motivating factors. Like I said before, we are pretty plain when it comes to food, we enjoy a regular breakfast and we don’t drink a lot. Snacks during the day are great but besides the coffee and drinks the concierge lounge was not a perk we cared about. I did find the early boarding, the rooms being ready on embarkation and the escorted disembarkation somewhat worth the extra cost.
I wrote in another post about our initial misunderstanding with computer systems and I honestly think that was not the norm or a reflection on the concierge team. I do think they should of done more in the terminal to accommodate concierge guests but oh well. Once we got to meet the team, they were fantastic and really made you feel welcome on a personal level and that they actually care. It was a nice dose of the Disney “magic”.
So then was our first experience in the lounge and like I said my expectations were low because we knew it wasn’t that important to us. Being 100% honest there was a bunch of small appetizers, some fruit and desserts. 90% of which, we wouldn’t eat for one reason or another. While the food may be exciting to some, it was a bit on the fancy side (ie small portions with unnecessarily long descriptions of the specific cooking style used. I don’t want charred free range duckling foot on a Himalayan sea salted brioche) and just what I would of expected to see in “concierge”. I think we had some bread and butter, fruit and a diet coke. After that we were kind of over it and sat patiently waiting to meet the hosts. Once they came, we went over our itinerary and they let us know the room was ready! Now it was time to see what we had been waiting for…
We had Room 12512 which we absolutely fell in love with. It was directly across from the lounge door which made it extremely convienent to grab something from the lounge or ask the hosts questions. The hallways in concierge are absolutely beautiful as well. All of the doors are rich wood instead of metal and you can really see the difference when you enter that section. The room also has the bump out verandah that was huge. I read a tip to request a lounge chair if you didn’t have one on these verandahs and they were there in 5 minutes to put one out. The room itself is incredible and the extra room you get in a 1 bedroom is perfect for us. We had sailed 4 times in a family verandah which we loved but the size and décor of the 1 bedroom we felt was worth the price alone. You have a great sitting area with a couch and tv, a desk and a dining room table. The ability to close off the bedroom was awesome and the bathroom was insane. It was about the same size as the bedroom with a huge whirlpool tub, double sinks, tv in the mirror, separate toilet and a separate stand up shower. There is an additional full bathroom with shower in the entrance hallway. These rooms are fantastic to say the least. I really think the jump up to the 1 bedroom felt like we were getting our money’s worth. If I was in a family verandah concierge, I could see where the comparison and “value” starts to not make sense.
Now it was time for Castaway Cay and the cabanas! I said prior that we were splurging a bit on this trip and we said we would try and get a cabana to see what it was all about. I have read many differing opinions on the subject and just like most “Disney Travel”, people are extremely opinionated one way or another. Either it was a big waste of money or people can’t go without one. We secured a cabana fairly easily with the onshore concierge team, we put our request in, they emailed us back that they reserved cabana 12. (I don’t know if this is important to anyone but it did not cost anything to reserve one and the fee is paid on the cruise with your normal bill.) That morning, you get off the ship and go to the tram stop. No carrying towels, no buying water and coolers, etc. Its all provided for you at the cabana! That may sound like a little thing but for us it was an extra perk we hadnt thought of prior and it was so nice. When we arrived at the 2nd tram stop, the told us to grab our snorkel gear and jump on the golf cart. They said its much easier to take the gear with you rather than walk back which I thought was a nice tip. They drove us to the cabana where Ashley met us and went over everything and showed us the “button” to push if we needed anything at all. He actually pushed it and someone came within 2 minutes to see if we needed anything. Based on prior reviews I think they are trying to increase the level of service and responsiveness which people said was bad in the past. As you can see from my pics, the view from #12 is awesome. That was the view my wife kept hoping for the whole time and it was perfect. Ship framed by palm trees the minute you walk through the door, and a little trail to what was basically a private beach. My daughter had made friends with another girl in the stateroom next to us and they ended up having the cabana next to us. I am sure it was coincidence but that really made a big impact to our trip. We both could do our own thing and the girls had free run of the beach. There were racks of floats they could grab and sand toys and were able to play all day alone in the water while we could relax and not worry about having 1000 people around us. There was no fighting for chairs together or someone putting their hat in a hammock to “reserve” it all day. I had my own hammock, my wife had her own beach chairs and the kids had their own beach. This was also the first time we actually stayed on CC until we had to go back to the boat. Normally by mid afternoon, we go back to the boat and rest, but having a spot to do that right on the beach was so nice. I felt like we were able to enjoy CC that much more. Cookies and the concierge bathrooms were very close by and at the end of the day, they picked us up on the golf cart and drove us back to the tram stop. From the minute we walked in, we both looked at each other and said even if we didn’t do the concierge room, we will have hard time going back to Castaway Cay without a cabana. It is expensive but worth every penny. We have had a fantastic time on CC our last 4 trips but we didn’t know what we were missing until we had it and I will try and get a cabana every time from this point on.
The rest of our trip was great as well. We ate at Palo on pirate night and the concierge team was able to get us a table at the window to enjoy the sunset. That was really one of the only requests we had made and it was cool to see them take care of it. On our last night, we were really bummed it was coming to an end because honestly we had our best cruise to date. The room, the concierge team, the cabana, everything was worth every penny we spent. Everyone has their thoughts and opinions but I would highly suggest trying it if that’s an option for you. Do your research, be flexible on dates and try to pick the lowest priced sail date during the year. It takes a great cruise and makes it awesome! I hope that maybe my review can help some of the people that were where I was for last year in being overwhelmed by the differences in opinion. I worte this review honestly based on what we experienced and if we didnt love it, I would have said it.
We are on to our next adventure and we booked a full week on the Fantasy in a one bedroom concierge in October. We cant wait to meet their concierge team and see what everyone is talking about when they say you cant go back to the 3-4 nights. We are going to miss the Dream but are excited to see how they differ.
I took some time to start writing my thoughts on our trip and have updated below. I will try and add the rest tomorrow...
UPDATE 5/2-
I think other people may have similar questions to what we had even though this was our 5th cruise. I wanted to write this as more of a regular family's impression of our experience jumping up to concierge and if the extra money is really worth it or not. I read countless opinions on the boards and to be honest, I was left with the same open questions because concierge really seems to be polarizing to people. Either you are for it or against it and it goes to the extreme. I am going to be as straightforward as I can without any bias and hopefully that helps the people out there that felt like me before the trip.
So with that being said...
We are a family of three, my wife and I are in our early 40's and our daughter is 9. We are huge Disney fans and had been visiting Walt Disney World for many years. My wife and I have been approximately 50 times and this was my daughters 13th. We visit at least once a year and try for 2 most times. We always stay on property, usually at The Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, and Boardwalk in a 1 bedroom villa. We are at the point where we spend as many pool days as we do park days and we are in no rush to do anything we can always do on our next trip. We are not “rope droppers” and consider ½ days in the park, some pool time, a nap, and a good dinner at a signature restaurant/Disney Springs an awesome day. We are very “conservative” with our food choices and mostly go with steak and potatoes or Italian. ( I know you don’t care but I think that makes a difference in our review. I will add details later!) We decided in 2012 we wanted a new Disney “1st” and decided to try a short 3 night cruise on the Dream. Well let me tell you after we both pondered our decision for months that included many night of regretting our decision, once we got on the ship we were hooked. And by hooked I mean my wife who is petrified about water and will only travel to places she is comfortable (ie Walt Disney World) cannot stop planning our next cruise after she gets back. Like I said earlier, we had done 4 prior cruises on the Dream, all on deck 10 aft in a family verandah. We had a combination of 3 and 4 nights and we normally do pre and post stays at Universal and Walt Disney World. We have travelled 2 cruises prior with just the 3 of us, we had one with good friends and their two children, and one with 16 people both friends and family. (The large group is a lot of fun if you can convince enough people. We normally cruise April or October, and we have our favorite server Christopher “Danger” Phillips from Jamaica most of the time. Like I said we stay with whats comfortable and works for us. We do not book at midnight on opening day, we don’t use OBB, and we basically pick a cruise during the year that’s less expensive than the others and then worry about vacations and missing school etc. We use Teresa at Dreams and book with the minimum deposit and use every possible day we have to pay off the final balance. What I am getting at is we are a normal middle/upper middle class family with real life bills. mortgage, cars, school, etc, etc, etc. Just like we search for the best prices on the cruise, we wait until there is a 30% WDW offer so we can book a villa.We wont go until its the right price.
So that brings us to cruise number 5, the illustrious “GOLD” cruise. I hope I am not breaking anyones heart but you are officially gold AFTER your 5th cruise. Damn you DCL! (although I am not entirely certain what gold gets me anyway…) But wait, you do get a gold KTTW card in concierge so you can put that in your lanyard and flaunt it around the boat. Just like everyone else, we debated upgrading to concierge but we had some extra money and we picked a very reasonably priced cruise to do a 1 bedroom suite. Just like we are normally in a 1 bedroom villa at WDW, we thought just having the extra space might be worth the price alone. That and the ability to hopefully get to try a cabana on CC were our motivating factors. Like I said before, we are pretty plain when it comes to food, we enjoy a regular breakfast and we don’t drink a lot. Snacks during the day are great but besides the coffee and drinks the concierge lounge was not a perk we cared about. I did find the early boarding, the rooms being ready on embarkation and the escorted disembarkation somewhat worth the extra cost.
I wrote in another post about our initial misunderstanding with computer systems and I honestly think that was not the norm or a reflection on the concierge team. I do think they should of done more in the terminal to accommodate concierge guests but oh well. Once we got to meet the team, they were fantastic and really made you feel welcome on a personal level and that they actually care. It was a nice dose of the Disney “magic”.
So then was our first experience in the lounge and like I said my expectations were low because we knew it wasn’t that important to us. Being 100% honest there was a bunch of small appetizers, some fruit and desserts. 90% of which, we wouldn’t eat for one reason or another. While the food may be exciting to some, it was a bit on the fancy side (ie small portions with unnecessarily long descriptions of the specific cooking style used. I don’t want charred free range duckling foot on a Himalayan sea salted brioche) and just what I would of expected to see in “concierge”. I think we had some bread and butter, fruit and a diet coke. After that we were kind of over it and sat patiently waiting to meet the hosts. Once they came, we went over our itinerary and they let us know the room was ready! Now it was time to see what we had been waiting for…
We had Room 12512 which we absolutely fell in love with. It was directly across from the lounge door which made it extremely convienent to grab something from the lounge or ask the hosts questions. The hallways in concierge are absolutely beautiful as well. All of the doors are rich wood instead of metal and you can really see the difference when you enter that section. The room also has the bump out verandah that was huge. I read a tip to request a lounge chair if you didn’t have one on these verandahs and they were there in 5 minutes to put one out. The room itself is incredible and the extra room you get in a 1 bedroom is perfect for us. We had sailed 4 times in a family verandah which we loved but the size and décor of the 1 bedroom we felt was worth the price alone. You have a great sitting area with a couch and tv, a desk and a dining room table. The ability to close off the bedroom was awesome and the bathroom was insane. It was about the same size as the bedroom with a huge whirlpool tub, double sinks, tv in the mirror, separate toilet and a separate stand up shower. There is an additional full bathroom with shower in the entrance hallway. These rooms are fantastic to say the least. I really think the jump up to the 1 bedroom felt like we were getting our money’s worth. If I was in a family verandah concierge, I could see where the comparison and “value” starts to not make sense.
Now it was time for Castaway Cay and the cabanas! I said prior that we were splurging a bit on this trip and we said we would try and get a cabana to see what it was all about. I have read many differing opinions on the subject and just like most “Disney Travel”, people are extremely opinionated one way or another. Either it was a big waste of money or people can’t go without one. We secured a cabana fairly easily with the onshore concierge team, we put our request in, they emailed us back that they reserved cabana 12. (I don’t know if this is important to anyone but it did not cost anything to reserve one and the fee is paid on the cruise with your normal bill.) That morning, you get off the ship and go to the tram stop. No carrying towels, no buying water and coolers, etc. Its all provided for you at the cabana! That may sound like a little thing but for us it was an extra perk we hadnt thought of prior and it was so nice. When we arrived at the 2nd tram stop, the told us to grab our snorkel gear and jump on the golf cart. They said its much easier to take the gear with you rather than walk back which I thought was a nice tip. They drove us to the cabana where Ashley met us and went over everything and showed us the “button” to push if we needed anything at all. He actually pushed it and someone came within 2 minutes to see if we needed anything. Based on prior reviews I think they are trying to increase the level of service and responsiveness which people said was bad in the past. As you can see from my pics, the view from #12 is awesome. That was the view my wife kept hoping for the whole time and it was perfect. Ship framed by palm trees the minute you walk through the door, and a little trail to what was basically a private beach. My daughter had made friends with another girl in the stateroom next to us and they ended up having the cabana next to us. I am sure it was coincidence but that really made a big impact to our trip. We both could do our own thing and the girls had free run of the beach. There were racks of floats they could grab and sand toys and were able to play all day alone in the water while we could relax and not worry about having 1000 people around us. There was no fighting for chairs together or someone putting their hat in a hammock to “reserve” it all day. I had my own hammock, my wife had her own beach chairs and the kids had their own beach. This was also the first time we actually stayed on CC until we had to go back to the boat. Normally by mid afternoon, we go back to the boat and rest, but having a spot to do that right on the beach was so nice. I felt like we were able to enjoy CC that much more. Cookies and the concierge bathrooms were very close by and at the end of the day, they picked us up on the golf cart and drove us back to the tram stop. From the minute we walked in, we both looked at each other and said even if we didn’t do the concierge room, we will have hard time going back to Castaway Cay without a cabana. It is expensive but worth every penny. We have had a fantastic time on CC our last 4 trips but we didn’t know what we were missing until we had it and I will try and get a cabana every time from this point on.
The rest of our trip was great as well. We ate at Palo on pirate night and the concierge team was able to get us a table at the window to enjoy the sunset. That was really one of the only requests we had made and it was cool to see them take care of it. On our last night, we were really bummed it was coming to an end because honestly we had our best cruise to date. The room, the concierge team, the cabana, everything was worth every penny we spent. Everyone has their thoughts and opinions but I would highly suggest trying it if that’s an option for you. Do your research, be flexible on dates and try to pick the lowest priced sail date during the year. It takes a great cruise and makes it awesome! I hope that maybe my review can help some of the people that were where I was for last year in being overwhelmed by the differences in opinion. I worte this review honestly based on what we experienced and if we didnt love it, I would have said it.
We are on to our next adventure and we booked a full week on the Fantasy in a one bedroom concierge in October. We cant wait to meet their concierge team and see what everyone is talking about when they say you cant go back to the 3-4 nights. We are going to miss the Dream but are excited to see how they differ.
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it would be my go to cabin every time!
