B2B Dream Trip Report - 1st Time B2B, 1st Time Concierge

hanscarlet

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Hi All - going to take the time to write up our trip report from the beginning of this month (May) for our 3 day WDW trip and 4nt/3nt B2B on the Dream. For reference prior to this cruise we had been on the Dream in 2013 for a 4 night, a 5 night on the Wonder and a 7 night on the Magic.

WDW - We really weren't thrilled to go to WDW but did so at the pushing of my mother and her interest and going to WDW with her grandkids. My ODD is ASD and doesn't care much for rides and my youngest is 5 and doesn't care much for rides either. We also like staying at the Beach Club and eating at nice places [Edited to Add: I mention this because this is how we have always traveled to WDW prior to being cruisers and this was our first experience with the Deluxe Dining plan - having gone through this trip, and perhaps being biased being a cruiser now, I do not think the Deluxe resorts or the Deluxe dining plan were worth the $$$$, I felt like we did not get the value for the money spent at all, would be happy to elaborate but don't want to be too negative]. First night we ate at Narcosseas with the deluxe dining plan - it was delicious, nice ambiance but from the beach club, it took us 45 minute to get there with WDW transportation. The 2nd night we went to Msr. Paul's in France and it was excellent but our waiter was new and still learning but overall did a great job. Be sure to get the Sphere for desert if you ever go to Msr Paul's, it's kind of a similar experience to the chocolate souffle in Palo. For reference Narcossea's is in the Grand Floridian and Msr Paul is above Chef France in France (Epcot). We took the monorail from MK to Narcosseas and took the boat back to MK from GF because the dock was right next to the restaurant. The boat ride was nice, we were able to get relatively close to the new bungalows at the Poly.

After researching transportation options from WDW to DCL we decided to get an uber from the Beach Club to MCO because we didn't want to wait around for the resort DCL pick up. We were glad we did it this way. We got to MCO at about 10:45 after leaving Beach Club by 10:05. We had breakfast with the characters at Cape May Cafe and that was very nice, the characters find a way to get to every table and spend time with the kids. We had a very short wait at MCO DCL bus line but very envious of the people who stayed at the Hyatt MCO or did the airfare to DCL baggage because we were the only ones in line with our big bags, it wasn't a huge deal but just a reminder of how we wished we were staying at the Hyatt MCO... much longer line when we got to the DCL bus line by 10:45 (as opposed to 9:15am when we stayed at the Hyatt) and the port was much more crowded by the time we arrived at the port around roughly 11:50am.

So we get to the port and it was crowded, I was surprised because the last time we saw it was at 9:45am when there was virtually no one there. And so as we get up the escalators and see these big crowds and lines, our concierge experience immediately began. We just walked passed all of the crowds and got checked in by concierge right away. We got our fancy gold KTTW cards, lanyards and an envelope with an invitation to a special concierge reception when we get on board. We then were introduced to our escort who brought us right through the lounge and into the hallway to board the boat, she unhooked the blocker to the "special boarding line" and we just kept walking, bypassing all of the lines. It was magical, then they announced our name as we got on the ship and the escort said good bye and a NEW escort immediately joined us after our names were called as we boarded the ship. The new escort then brought us to the forward elevator, chatted politely the whole way - said Villains tonight is going away and being replaced by Beauty and the Beast, the live action version, non animated version, and pressed 12 for us on the elevator and up to the lounge we went. Our room was ready, at this point it's about 12:30pm. There is an elaborate check in process in the concierge lounge where the hosts sit down with you and review your folder with your itinerary, and the kids club host comes up with her portable computer and creates bands for your kids, all the while you're snacking with the lovely snacks in the lounge. It was being treated like royalty. After we were settled in with concierge hosts and in our room, we got more food at Cabanas and then chilled out until Muster.

Our muster was in the walt disney theatre this time. I was going to try the SN muster check in where you have your SN check in ahead of time and then bring the SN Kid back to the SR because in previous years, muster drill on deck 4 has been really difficult on my ASD ODD. But this time in the theatre it was much more pleasant because of the ability to sit down and relax in the theatre and not be crushed like sardines on deck 4. The walk up to deck 11 and 12 from deck 4 after Muster is not fun - this is where you miss the classic ships LOL.

Sail away party was fun, we were on deck 12, looking right over the stage - at this view we also saw the characters "behind the curtain" and we were surprised how the classic characters stayed in character even when not really being on stage, really neat.

First night of dinner was not so great, we were running really late, like sat down at 6:10pm and we came in the back way of AP because we got lost.... anyways we found a head server ( we think it was ours but can't remember) and we were shown our table but literally waited 10 minutes and no one acknowledged us. By the 15 min mark I went to the front of the restaurant and them know and the guy I spoke to was super apologetic and I could tell he lit someone a new one because from there we were treated fine. Our server team was OK... we'll see.... I will say we were seated close to crush and got lucky that the table really close to crush wasn't there on night 1 so crush talked to my 5 year old and it was really neat.

Night 2 - we got the tea cups in enchanted garden (requested by me from concierge) and we LOVED THEM! We didn't find them uncomfortable at all! Loved the privacy and love the proximity to the fountain! Night 2 our main server was gonee, he was sick... at this point I am thinking worst serving team experience ever. THe sub server was AWESOME, he reminded me of the usual pomp and flair and fun that I'm used to seeing on DCL.

We did Palo brunch on the first leg - it was awesome, just as good as on the classic ships. We also got lucky because we got a table near the help yourself brunch so not a lot of walking to get there, I was surprised at how much longer/bigger Palo is on the Dream than the classic ships, it's noticeable (should be obvious but still noting it).

We made good friends with a couple we met on the smoking deck, we are FB friends with them now and generally all the people we met on our first leg on the 4 night were really nice. WE had two bits of drama on the first leg - a jumper from deck 7 and a guy on the smoking deck had a siezure.

Jumper - so we had no clue when it happened, there was no noticeable to do or anything like that... we only found out because we had heard the chatter from folks on the smoking deck. I have since learned more about it from reading up on others' experiences and videos from our FB group.

Siezure - we just saw the end of the commotion at the of end of a gentleman's siezure.... a guy who never had one in his life had one during a smoke in the evening... the emergency team came up to the smoking deck (13 near currents) and he was OK and they put him in a wheelchair and brought him down to medical and he was concious when he was in the wheelchair... I later saw him on the smoking deck later in the cruise, he said he was doing ok, he and his wife were really nice but he said they gave him a $350 bill for the treatment so he was low on money, ended up buying him a beer just to say that we're happy he's doing ok.

Night 3 - we were in tea cups again for pirate night, it was fun but the head server asked us at this point what we wanted to do for the next leg in terms of a serving team - did we want to switch it up or keep the same team.... so I told her we wanted to switch... so she went away and I got to thinking about it, we had met our server's girlfriend on the ship and we adored the girlfriend - we met her because she was our Palo server! She told us at the end of our brunch - your main server is my boyfriend! So anyways knowing that we had to see this Palo server again (because we wanted to see her on leg 2 because she was fab) and the fact that I really really like the tea cups - note I did NOT request the tea cups for leg 2 from concierge because I had heard they could be cramped so wasn't sure if I should request them... so for these reasons I told our head server we would like to keep the same serving team.... she was visibly pleased at this change of heart and I don't know but it felt like we got BETTER service after I shared this...

Anyways Night 4 was nice because we knew we were staying and everyone else was leaving - great feeling but we felt bad for our new friends that we had met on the smoking deck.

Leg 1 Shows: Golden Mickeys - awesome as usual, night two was vilians we skipped it, night 3 was pirate show and it was great as was the later party after the fireworks, Believe was Meh, it was just OK I thought, I didn't really like the story line but the songs were good

debark/embark experience - our concierge hosts gave us this important tip that in my opinion all B2Bers should know - PC is CHILLY, Tracey told us to bring a sweater so we did and were really happy we did. Our server team was kind enough the night before to allow us second seating breakfast because they had an extra table so we were able to hav a relaxing breakfast after leaving our room. We still had about another hour to kill so we ate our breakfast really slowly and then from there were to vista cafe and just chilled a little bit and finally started to make our way off the boat around 9am. It's really neat to get off the boat that late because the customs/luggage section is so empty, it's wild. So we got through customs and turned the corner and went right up the escalators and just hung out in an almost empty port. There were about 6 other B2B families in the port and that's it. We checked in with concierge and they did the whole spiel again with the invitation to new set of KTTW keys and lanyards.

B2B GOLD TICKET - so in my tired stupor of paperwork they give the B2Bers, there is a gold ticket that gets you back on the ship first, even before concierge or general boarding - I lost mine, thankfully general check in was able to get me a new one - but don't lose your paperwork or golden ticket to get back on board...

All in All we were off the ship by 9 and back on by 10:40 but with customs and re-check in and kids club check in (we just did it at the port this time because there were no lines this early), it really felt like just a half hour of waiting around. I gave the kids their ipads to chill with...we were really surprised by how smooth the B2B experience was. Even remarking in the lounge while we were waiting "this isn't bad at all, very smooth and relaxing".

We got back on the ship, our rooms were ready, we just dropped our backpack in the room, then went to the swimming deck on Deck 11 to set up our spot right near the pool and waited until noon until we could get on the aquaduck... we had great fun riding the aquaduck a few times before the lines got bad.

Second leg - we didn't do any of the shows and it was glorious, relaxation all the way and no guilt with feeling like we were missing out. The clientele was slightly different than those on the 4 night cruises..... they were more like wedding guests or frequent cruisers out of Florida but checking out DCL for the first time.

Oh and we were besties with our serving team by the end of the second leg, we actually tipped them more than the suggested amount, odd how we had a rough start to actually feeling really sad to leave them by the end of the cruise. Funny how that happens :)

Cabanas on CC - had an awesome time as usual in our private cabanas, got to meet another Disboarder - Trera and he and his family and party were really nice

Laundry - before I end this TR I want to be sure I mention the laundry tip - I originally planned to do it on the debark/embark day but I was ultimately worried to leave it there when I was off the ship... so instead I did it on the very first day... when I cut through the stateroom line as I went to bring my laundry to the laundry room, I told the stateroom hosts "we apologize, we're just doing laundry, not here for our stateroom" and the hosts said "B2B?" and we said yes... so I think they are used to that... also the laundry machines are so so small, we had to use 3 machines for 3 days in WDW so just to give you an idea, if you're going to do laundry do it during a time when no one else is in there like day 1. I was glad I brought fabric softener and detergent pellets, they weren't super expensive but like $1/piece and with 3 sets of laundry, we saved $6 because we brought our own.

Port Excursions: British Colonial Hilton - we did those both times we went to Nassau and it was fantastic and good value for your money. At no time did I feel unsafe walking from the boat to the hotel - I had experessed worry over this in the past because I have little girls but it was fine. Private family cabanas on CC and they were pure paradise as usual.

Anyways thanks for reading my trip report... it was a fantastic cruise... so fantastic that we booked another B2B on the Dream with concierge again... it was really a wonderful trip, we'd love to do it all over again! Please let me know if I can answer any questions!

2018 note - we switched our cruise to the Fantasy because the B2B dates didn't line up. first time on the Fantasy!
 
Last edited:
Very cool report. I have always wanted to do a B2B, but as concierge it must have been wonderful. We sail our first concierge sail next June. Can't wait!
 
Thank you so much! Very good advice and info for our upcoming B2B! Can u tell me for the 4 nt, what was the non-Broadway/production show? I am also looking forward to not "having to " see all the shows since we've already seen two of them!
 
Very cool report. I have always wanted to do a B2B, but as concierge it must have been wonderful. We sail our first concierge sail next June. Can't wait!

Concierge is just an experience that is hard to describe until you do it, it's just wonderful. I told friends that I felt like I was sailing DCL for the first time, it was great, have so much fun!


Thank you so much! Very good advice and info for our upcoming B2B! Can u tell me for the 4 nt, what was the non-Broadway/production show? I am also looking forward to not "having to " see all the shows since we've already seen two of them!
Thanks! We had the magic illusion show of Mike Super but looks like Voiceplay is on there now. We did not see the magic show so I can't say how it was unfortunately.
 


Thank you for your report, we will be doing a B2B on the Dream in October, it was nice to read about your experience!
 
Thanks for the B2B report, we will be sailing on the Dream in January 2018 1st on the 3 day, then on the 4 day! So excited!
 


Hi All - going to take the time to write up our trip report from the beginning of this month (May) for our 3 day WDW trip and 4nt/3nt B2B on the Dream. For reference prior to this cruise we had been on the Dream in 2013 for a 4 night, a 5 night on the Wonder and a 7 night on the Magic.

I see you are about to have another trip, so I went back and read this report. Great details. Loved hearing your personal take and tips! Hope you have a chance to write a report when you come back from the new one!
 
I see you are about to have another trip, so I went back and read this report. Great details. Loved hearing your personal take and tips! Hope you have a chance to write a report when you come back from the new one!

Thanks! So I am glad you're brought this up because you have reminded me to up this - we did book another B2B on concierge but then later switched it because there was an issue with dates lining up for us. We are now sailing for the first time on the Fantasy and returning to the Eastern Carribean. I am excited to go on a 7 nighter again and enjoy the special perks that the 7 night cruises bring.
 
Are you going Concierge again? I guess I'll find out soon! So exciting!
Nope, but this was our first time booked GTY 5E and we got 8682!!!! We originally booked 4A because no concierge left and we were on deck 10 and heard there were issues with sounds from deck 11 and so I took a chance and saved $750 and got a huge room! Super psyched!
 
Nope, but this was our first time booked GTY 5E and we got 8682!!!! We originally booked 4A because no concierge left and we were on deck 10 and heard there were issues with sounds from deck 11 and so I took a chance and saved $750 and got a huge room! Super psyched!

Sounds great!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!







Top