~ºoº November 27, 2010- Western Magic! ºoº~

[favoriteslave]

Hello everyone.

I've finally stopped pouting about being back on land. It was nice to meet everyone and thanks so much for the FE gifts, they were great. I'm still finding sand on things and smiling about our amazing vacation.

BealsRwe: We are booked the 3 day after your 4 day on the dream. Maybe you should hang around and spend another 3 days. A bunch of our friends are on both of those cruises.

Currently we have 3 cruises booked. One every week would be just fine with me.

I thought the weather was wonderful on our cruise compared to what I came home too. It was a bit chilly during sailaway and on CC, but its was a balmy 40 when I got back to reality.

Ok back to work for me. The bosses had me jumping yesterday and I'm sure they would like me to work today too.

ttyl.

 

[jd99]

Ok. So not going to do a trip report this time, but thought I'd report the details of our amazing sailing here and perhaps post some pics later on.


We had a great cruise. The long and short of it:
--We upgraded at the port to a category 3 suite. This is actually the third time we have been able to do it and it gets better every time. We had AMAZING service this time (thank you Danny) and just one amazing experience after another.
--Palo dinner was fantastic!
--Key West day was nice - we met some friends and walked around a bit but got back on the ship early to enjoy.
--Days at sea were filled with activities. Spa, wine tasting, Palo brunch, martini tasting, Castaway Club reception.
--Shows were all great (adult and family). Lots of fun for sure.
--Grand Cayman was the BEST day. We have been there before - for a week about 7 years ago at the Westin. There is a great restaurant across the street from the Westin called Eats and we wanted to go there for their great pancakes. So we headed there for the day. Had originally planned to hit the Marriott for a day pass deal they do for 12 bucks but since we were at the amazing Westin, we wanted to check out their deal. We booked a day room there and spent the day swimming in the pool, in the ocean, playing in the sand. Just lotsa lotsa fun. And incredible weather 85 and sunny. THank goodness we stayed at the Westin as Danny (the concierge) told us later that the Marriott had discontinued their good deal on the day pass.
--Cozumel - went to Nachi Cocom where we had never been before. It was beautiful and the day started out great and then the rain came. And stayed. So we bailed after about 2 hours but we had a nice time nonetheless. Would go back there in a minute.
--Castaway Cay -- Amazing as always. It was beautiful. We mostly played in the sand but we also tried out the new water slides and they are a GREAT addition to the island.
-- Kids both made GREAT keep-in-touch kind of friends this time which makes me very happy.
--We had fun with some old friends as well -- folks with whom we had cruised b4 and some new friends too.

All in all a GREAT trip and I can't believe we came back to snow and cold like this. It was a slap in the face. We have a Dream sailing booked in June. I don't plan a trip report buy will probably post some pics here later.

 

[BealsRwe]

Hello everyone.

I've finally stopped pouting about being back on land. It was nice to meet everyone and thanks so much for the FE gifts, they were great. I'm still finding sand on things and smiling about our amazing vacation.

BealsRwe: We are booked the 3 day after your 4 day on the dream. Maybe you should hang around and spend another 3 days. A bunch of our friends are on both of those cruises.

Currently we have 3 cruises booked. One every week would be just fine with me.

I thought the weather was wonderful on our cruise compared to what I came home too. It was a bit chilly during sailaway and on CC, but its was a balmy 40 when I got back to reality.

Ok back to work for me. The bosses had me jumping yesterday and I'm sure they would like me to work today too.

ttyl.

Just saw you're on the Nov 3, 2011 Dream sailing with the nanaheads...we are booked on the 4 night before you, 10/30/11-the front half of the B2B.

 

[DLW8]

I was just assuming we would get the $200 OBC for our rebooking that we got for this year. Nope. Just got an email from DU that they are offering $100 on 7 night cruises in a verandah room. While it's still great (don't get me wrong), shame on me for not checking it out ahead of time. I guess I was just surprised in the huge difference.

I am still feeling the rocking of the ship when I'm sitting at my computer, so I can daydream that I'm still on our cruise. We also came back to very cold weather, it's going to be a high of 33 today and we have very high winds. Guess my paradise vacation is over.



ETA: I just checked the DU website and according to that, it is still $200 for 7 night cruises (2011 and 2012) in a verandah room. So now I am totally confused! Guess I will wait for my "real" email from Tammy with my DU # for the confirmation.

 

[ukintheus]

I was just assuming we would get the $200 OBC for our rebooking that we got for this year. Nope. Just got an email from DU that they are offering $100 on 7 night cruises in a verandah room. While it's still great (don't get me wrong), shame on me for not checking it out ahead of time. I guess I was just surprised in the huge difference.

I am still feeling the rocking of the ship when I'm sitting at my computer, so I can daydream that I'm still on our cruise. We also came back to very cold weather, it's going to be a high of 33 today and we have very high winds. Guess my paradise vacation is over.



ETA: I just checked the DU website and according to that, it is still $200 for 7 night cruises (2011 and 2012) in a verandah room. So now I am totally confused! Guess I will wait for my "real" email from Tammy with my DU # for the confirmation.

I'm waiting to hear back from Merrie about the transfer of ours, but we only did a 5 night, I think it should be $150, but I'm not sure. I'm confused about the rooms on the Dream and what's comparable to what - the agent on board said she had quoted us a comparable room, but we were on Deck 6 on the Magic and she has us on Deck 8 on the Dream. I guess I need to find some time to look at it all. I'm sure there are numerous threads on here!

Is anyone doing a trip report?? I'm too lazy to do my own - but I'd love to read someone elses! It's very depressing that our cruise is over

 

[Fourgolds]

Now that we are all back to the "real world" I wanted to say a big thank you to you all. This was our 2nd Disney cruise, but the first time we participated in the FE exchange, and we will be doing it every time for now on. The kids we so excited to see what presents they received each time we went back to the room.

We too booked our next cruise while on-board, Oct 2011 on the Dream and planned the next after that for early 2013, but of course they are not booking that far out just yet.

Thankfully we did not get sick from the rough day at sea, but we would have liked the weather to have been a little warmer. I would not trade that day on Castaway Cay for anything and we are looking into the double dips for the future.

Thanks again to everyone. I posted a slideshow on youtube of our cruise, but the audio was removed for copyright issues. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daOIqf-uH38

 

[laura001]

hello! it was so nice to meet some of you! Sorry we didnt get to see everyone, just too many of us!
We too got seasick the night of cozumel. i made the mistake of having alcohol at dinner that night and got so sick. We lounged around the room all the next day and I had sea bands and dramamine and that did the trick and I was ok after that day.

for a southerner, Serenity bay on CC was WAY too cold and windy. I was pretty unhappy with that. the rest of the island didn't seem as cold or windy as serenity. oh well.

Doubt we will cruise this time of yea again, too chilly for us. We are going on the 5 night double dip at the end of may with my parents, looking forward to it!

It was great meeting everyone too, and we really enjoyed the FE stuff. A lot of great ideas.

DH was sick that night too and woke up Thurs still not feeling great, he finally agreed to put the seabands on and almost instantly felt better, thank goodness.

CC serenity bay was way too cold. After lunch we left and went to the family beach, it ended up being beautiful there and we layed out and snorkeled all afternoon. What a difference!

We too were a little disappointed with the weather and would probably not sail again that time of year, unless we get another great deal!

Glad to have sailed with all of you!

 

[th0709]

This is just a note to send a HUGE THANKS to those who noticed we had a FE, but had not signed up for the exchange. I managed to order our FE, but didn't get back to sign up for the exchange in time.... Again, thanks to those of you who included our daughter's Faith and Grace. They were super excited to find their surprises and we were really impressed with the creative ideas......and also appreciated the Canadian token since we are Canadian Citizens living in the US I will definitely get more organized to do this the next time.

Our family has done a number of cruises before, but this was our first Disney cruise and we really enjoyed it! Our daughter was over the moon to spend her 3rd birthday on board with her favorite princesses and characters. Our 18month old has been talking about Mickey each day since we returned, so we are planning to head to the parks this weekend to enjoy the decorations and put our annual passes to good use

Hope everyone enjoys the holidays!!

 

[mousebrat]

Ok. So not going to do a trip report this time, but thought I'd report the details of our amazing sailing here and perhaps post some pics later on.


We had a great cruise. The long and short of it:
--We upgraded at the port to a category 3 suite. This is actually the third time we have been able to do it and it gets better every time. We had AMAZING service this time (thank you Danny) and just one amazing experience after another.
--Palo dinner was fantastic!
--Key West day was nice - we met some friends and walked around a bit but got back on the ship early to enjoy.
--Days at sea were filled with activities. Spa, wine tasting, Palo brunch, martini tasting, Castaway Club reception.
--Shows were all great (adult and family). Lots of fun for sure.
--Grand Cayman was the BEST day. We have been there before - for a week about 7 years ago at the Westin. There is a great restaurant across the street from the Westin called Eats and we wanted to go there for their great pancakes. So we headed there for the day. Had originally planned to hit the Marriott for a day pass deal they do for 12 bucks but since we were at the amazing Westin, we wanted to check out their deal. We booked a day room there and spent the day swimming in the pool, in the ocean, playing in the sand. Just lotsa lotsa fun. And incredible weather 85 and sunny. THank goodness we stayed at the Westin as Danny (the concierge) told us later that the Marriott had discontinued their good deal on the day pass.
--Cozumel - went to Nachi Cocom where we had never been before. It was beautiful and the day started out great and then the rain came. And stayed. So we bailed after about 2 hours but we had a nice time nonetheless. Would go back there in a minute.
--Castaway Cay -- Amazing as always. It was beautiful. We mostly played in the sand but we also tried out the new water slides and they are a GREAT addition to the island.
-- Kids both made GREAT keep-in-touch kind of friends this time which makes me very happy.
--We had fun with some old friends as well -- folks with whom we had cruised b4 and some new friends too.

All in all a GREAT trip and I can't believe we came back to snow and cold like this. It was a slap in the face. We have a Dream sailing booked in June. I don't plan a trip report buy will probably post some pics here later.

Danny was fabulous. I miss him and Shaka (our stateroom host). I wish I could have brought them both home with me.

 

[iloverags2]

Danny was fabulous. I miss him and Shaka (our stateroom host). I wish I could have brought them both home with me.

I agree with both of you also. Sent off an email to DCL about Danny and how spectacular he is!

 

[jd99]

I agree with both of you also. Sent off an email to DCL about Danny and how spectacular he is!

Honestly this is the third time we have had a one-bedroom suite with concierge and the other concierge folks were - at best - okay. I always felt like they were bothered by having to talk to us, no matter the situation. I always thought - they know we upgraded at the port so we didn't pay full price so they are treating us poorly. Well Danny couldn't have been further from that. He was so good that I would consider booking concierge from jump if I knew that Danny would be our concierge. And I'm not talking about him "giving" us anything or any special favors - just the fact that he was there talking with us, seemed to be truly interested in us and gave the kids tons of his time. Just an awesome awesome DCL CM and he is why we love the DCL experience.

 

[scorp111]

A fairly unique picture of your ship/cruise. I took this from the Carnival Dream at Sunrise prior to your turnoff to Key West.

 

[iloverags2]

A fairly unique picture of your ship/cruise. I took this from the Carnival Dream at Sunrise prior to your turnoff to Key West.

Thanks for posting! That is a beautiful picture!

 

[jd99]

A fairly unique picture of your ship/cruise. I took this from the Carnival Dream at Sunrise prior to your turnoff to Key West.

Beautiful shot. Thanks for posting!

 

[DLW8]

A fairly unique picture of your ship/cruise. I took this from the Carnival Dream at Sunrise prior to your turnoff to Key West.

That is fabulous! Hoep you enjoyed your cruise that week!

 

[Popovich]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that included us in the FE exchange. The kids loved receiving treats and enjoyed roaming the ship and delivering as well.

It was so nice meeting many of you and sorry that we didn't get to meet everyone.

We got back Monday night to snow and a week of bad weather. We all now have colds and sore throats. The kids had a snow day today which gave them a day to rest.

We rebooked back to back dates on the Dream the second week of November. Not sure if we will keep those dates or not.

This was our 4th cruise at this time of year and our first week of some cool weather and some rough seas!

I'm so glad that I was able to meet many of you and hope that we will cruise together again. We enjoyed seeing some old DCL friends and making new ones.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Gailyn

 

[ladybug23]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that included us in the FE exchange. The kids loved receiving treats and enjoyed roaming the ship and delivering as well.

It was so nice meeting many of you and sorry that we didn't get to meet everyone.

We got back Monday night to snow and a week of bad weather. We all now have colds and sore throats. The kids had a snow day today which gave them a day to rest.

We rebooked back to back dates on the Dream the second week of November. Not sure if we will keep those dates or not.

This was our 4th cruise at this time of year and our first week of some cool weather and some rough seas!

I'm so glad that I was able to meet many of you and hope that we will cruise together again. We enjoyed seeing some old DCL friends and making new ones.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Gailyn

Gailyn - did you book the 4 night on 11/6/11? I ask because our family and our friends family booked that trip. Seems to be a popular time.

Personally I was very disappointed with our dinning room servers. They were just plan awful. Everything else on the cruise was wonderful. When I inquired about the serving staff I was informed that many of the best talent had been taken off to serve on the Dream, so I have high hopes that we good some good service when we cruise in November.

Our servers were consistent. Consistently bad. Consistently brought me the wrong drink EVERY SINGLE night. Consistently tried to serve the wrong dinner to the wrong person every single night, and consistently tried to serve my kids adult desserts that they did not order - how hard is it to bring chocolate pudding from the kids menu?? UGH!!! Was never so glad to get away from them, and that last morning breakfast was just the icing on the cake. How can you get breakfast wrong? Anyways, we should have gone with our back up plan and just get off the ship and eat breakfast at McDs then hit the road home.

All that said - I learned a lot on this cruise and look forward to the next one. They do get better as you learn how to deal with things and avoid bad situations.

 

[lisamarch]

Our servers were consistent. Consistently bad.

Ladybug23: I wonder if we had the same servers. We had Sipho and Bomin (?). We had the same experience. Lots of mistakes and VERY slow. We don't usually mind slow service if it's attentive, but we missed every event that began at 9:45, 10:00 or 10:15.

 

[DLW8]

Wishing all my DIS friends a wonderful Christmas!

 

[BealsRwe]

Merry Christmas from sunny (although cool) Florida.