Recent Dream cruisers?

[closetmickey]

Hi! Seeing lots from the Fantasy but not much information from recent Dream cruisers... We are supposed to board Friday.
Any late December/very early January cruisers able to share any information?

1. How were Vibe and 1820 Club? Was there programming?
2. When was Bingo offered, and how early do you need to arrive to get in?
3. Shows in the main theater? How early do people line up and how early are you let in?
4. How was cabanas?
5. Any extra entertainment in any of the lounges? Heard there were some acts on the Fantasy.
6. Were facials offered in the spa?
7. Were port upgrades available?
Any other tidbits of interest?

Thank you!

 

[TreeFalls]

There's a trip report called "a dream for Christmas" that has a lot of details, if you haven't read it.

 

[ilgirl51]

We just returned from our Dream trip. it was amazing! I couldn't believe how kind everyone was, and we loved our host & servers. I know it wasn't even close to full capacity, which made everything easier and more relaxed. Obviously there's always a chance of covid, but they did a great job with distancing, masking, and reduced capacity.
I can't answer all of your questions, but I will tell you what I know.

1. My niece and nephew went to Vibe and LOVED it. My daughter is 12 so had to go to Edge instead, which she also liked. Yes, there was programming at posted times each day.

3. There were 2 shows while we were there - 2 nights of Believe and 1 night of Beauty and the Beast. Since they are doing physical distancing all of the time, there was reduced capacity. We didn't go to Believe, but we wanted to see Beauty and the Beast. But when we arrived a few minutes before the show, it was already at capacity (with many more people ahead of us in line who also didn't get in.) But they did televise it in the staterooms, so we got to watch it there. I'd suggest lining up very early, as it was an amazing show even on TV and I wish we could have seen the special effects in person.

4. Cabanas was good. Cast members stand outside of the entrances and ask everyone to wash their hands with sinks outside the elevators. Everything is served by the cast members, and the drinks are filled by cast members. We liked the food a lot, though we ate with extended family for dinner at the other restaurants every night, so it was mainly for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Everyone working there is SO friendly!

7. I don't know if there were any port upgrades. I know most of the excursions from 2019 weren't running. We'd been hoping to do the excursion to Atlantis with the dolphins, but it's not available yet. We did go to Blue Lagoon Island and went to the dolphin encounter there, which we really liked.

Sorry, I don't know about #2,5, or 6.
Have a great time!

 

[MomOTwins]

Not super recent, but as of mid-October, we had #5 and #6. Ours was the first cruise where they started up facials again and they said it was because they had equipped the spa rooms with special air filtration, so presumably they would still have those know as I expect that cost them quite a bit to install. For lounge entertainment, there was always a musician doing disney songs in the District lounge (the violin guy was INCREDIBLE--standing ovations good). I feel like I saw a stand-up comedy act in the schedule as I was browsing through but I didn't go to it so am fuzzy on the details.

 

[disneynerd30]

Hi! Seeing lots from the Fantasy but not much information from recent Dream cruisers... We are supposed to board Friday.
Any late December/very early January cruisers able to share any information?

1. How were Vibe and 1820 Club? Was there programming?
2. When was Bingo offered, and how early do you need to arrive to get in?
3. Shows in the main theater? How early do people line up and how early are you let in?
4. How was cabanas?
5. Any extra entertainment in any of the lounges? Heard there were some acts on the Fantasy.
6. Were facials offered in the spa?
7. Were port upgrades available?
Any other tidbits of interest?

Thank you!

We also board the Dream on Friday! Hoping everything goes smoothly!

 

[Bishoparc]

There's a trip report called "a dream for Christmas" that has a lot of details, if you haven't read it.

Hey that’s me Thanks for reading! Here’s the link if you didn’t happen to find it.

For the OP for your questions. Don’t know about Vibe but we did hear about activities for the 1820 Society. Participation in that always varies from cruise to cruise.

Don’t know on Bingo. In regards to the show, we were on a 3 night so only Beauty & the Beast was offered. First showing was night 2, we walked in about 15 minutes before showtime and were seated down front and the balcony was pretty empty. They asked you to only attend one showing but we ended up swinging by the next night and glad we did because the theater was practically empty. Entire right floor section had no one in it. We walked in maybe 5 minutes before. The time to arrive and seating will definitely vary depending on how many people are onboard.

Cabanas was about the same as always. They serve you instead of you serving yourself. They have installed hand washing stations so you must wash your hands before going in. Not quite as big a selection of food as before but most of our favorites were there.

They had a few activities in the lounges but definitely no variety acts. The amount of activities was definitely less than before but we still found stuff to keep us occupied.

Most of the spa services were still going. We got a couple's massage day one that included a facial. Was great.

Someone in a room just down from us upgraded to concierge at port. I don't know any of the specifics around how much, etc.

Feel free to ask anything else and I’ll do my best. We will likely end up on another very soon lol.

 

[disneynerd30]

Hi! Seeing lots from the Fantasy but not much information from recent Dream cruisers... We are supposed to board Friday.
Any late December/very early January cruisers able to share any information?

1. How were Vibe and 1820 Club? Was there programming?
2. When was Bingo offered, and how early do you need to arrive to get in?
3. Shows in the main theater? How early do people line up and how early are you let in?
4. How was cabanas?
5. Any extra entertainment in any of the lounges? Heard there were some acts on the Fantasy.
6. Were facials offered in the spa?
7. Were port upgrades available?
Any other tidbits of interest?

Thank you!

Just spoke with guest services and they said this cruise is one of the more popular ones given it’s the last one before the vaccine mandate of 5-11 and it could be closer to 75% capacity. Not sure if that guesstimate will hold water but I was kind of taken a little back at that given everyone’s statements of about 40%. I guess we will find out Friday.

 

[CrowMomma]

closer to 75% capacity

Every day we get closer to this sailing, more people are dropping off the FB group and canceling or rescheduling.

This is pure speculation, but they had opened up Palo brunch on CC day, then I see a number of people who booked this report they were just moved over to sea day, which was previously sold out. So maybe this is because of the dwindling numbers?

 

[disneynerd30]

Thank you for that info! I don’t have social media so I have been coming here for info. That makes sense as the kids club would be sold out for all three days then open up so I figured it had to be the case of people cancelling.

 

[lanejudy]

Not sure if that guesstimate will hold water but I was kind of taken a little back at that given everyone’s statements of about 40%

Actually, I believe they have already had cruises this fall at 50% to 60%. If there hadn't been as many people turned away from the holiday week cruises I think the Fantasy could have easily been over that (estimated 2100 boarded + 400 denied boarding = 2500 / 4000 capacity = 62.5%). I honestly think people want to hear there is a capacity limit in place, and there could be some rooms blocked for quarantine and social-distancing of CMs but it's not a huge amount. The "lower capacity" that has been reported on various cruises is more likely due to demand than due to any official restriction on the number of passengers allowed.

 

[MomOTwins]

Actually, I believe they have already had cruises this fall at 50% to 60%. If there hadn't been as many people turned away from the holiday week cruises I think the Fantasy could have easily been over that (estimated 2100 boarded + 400 denied boarding = 2500 / 4000 capacity = 62.5%). I honestly think people want to hear there is a capacity limit in place, and there could be some rooms blocked for quarantine and social-distancing of CMs but it's not a huge amount. The "lower capacity" that has been reported on various cruises is more likely due to demand than due to any official restriction on the number of passengers allowed.

Also the repots on the Christmas fantasy were that there were lots of cancellations in the week leading up because of people getting sick or exposed. Which suggests more like 75% intended capacity.

 

[lanejudy]

Also the repots on the Christmas fantasy were that there were lots of cancellations in the week leading up because of people getting sick or exposed. Which suggests more like 75% intended capacity.

You are correct, I looked back at the other thread and there were reports around Thanksgiving that the Fantasy was expecting 3000 by year-end. I'm sure there were many last-minute cancellations due to Omicron.