Disney knows how to Cruise!
Disney Dream Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas
Sail date: July 04, 2016
Ship: Disney Dream
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 9030
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
This was my families seventh cruise, first Disney Cruise; 4 day Bahamas, Castaway Cay cruise on the Dream. Very nice ship, for holding over 4,000 people it didn't seem that crowded, except for when re-boarding at the ports. Great evening shows, loved the magic show the first night and the Golden Mickey's show the other two were good as well. Really enjoyed the rotation of the dinner restaurants, always had the same wait staff, which as expected did an amazing job. Children's club was unbelievable! Occupies the space of where most ships have the casino....so it was HUGE! Tons of activities, organized events and art projects and of course every Disney game or simulation game imaginable. If your a Disney movie fan then you will love the cruise, the movie theater showed movies still in the theater, the pool screen always had a movie playing and the TV in the rooms had all of the cartoons and movies on demand at no extra cost. The family pool area was always crowded, but not as bad as most ships we've been on. Adult area which occupies the forward 1/3 of the ship was never full, it was a nice oasis from the busy family zone. AquaDuck water slide was awesome! Go when it opens or after 6pm to avoid long lines, there was always a minimum of a 20 minute wait, in the afternoon it was over 45+ minutes. The Port of Nassau is just like any port in the Caribbean, lots of shopping and bars.....if you haven't been to Atlantis, you have to see it, it's a bit pricey but it's the best thing to do on the island, great waterslides and a very cool aquarium. Castaway Cay is worth the cruise alone. Picturesque private island, the snorkeling was unbelievable....underwater sunken ships, submarines and statues. The floating waterslide/island is a lot of fun. This also was the easiest place to see the Disney characters. They have an organized 5K run upon arrival in the morning, great way to see the island and start the day with a little exercise. Pirate night is so much fun, everyone dresses up in pirate attire, they have two pirate shows on the pool deck....one in-between the two dinner seatings and the grand finale show and fireworks display at around 10:30pm...get there early to get a good place as it's extremely crowded. After the fireworks the Cabana's restaurant has food and a desert bar open for an hour or so.
The negatives to the trip are very limited, lines to see the characters seemed to take forever unless you signed up for them prior to boarding with a scheduled appointment, sign up for the princess meeting ASAP. Re-boarding the ship in Nassau was a joke, no fault of Disney, but prior to getting back on the ship you had to go through a security check-point at the entrance to the dock with the cruise passengers from the other ships. The day we were there we had three other ships, so the check point took over an hour to get through especially around the 2pm-4:30pm time frame. Castaway Cay re-boarding was very easy since we were the only ship.
Having been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, Disney knows customer service and what children enjoy....it's great for a family vacation with children 17 and under, primarily for the activities and entertainment. See you again soon Disney!!!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Castaway Cay (Disney Private Island)
5 Comments
jojodmd 7 years ago
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hh4 8 years ago