Long Overdue Review from June 2019 Sailing

Item: Disney Dream
Rating: 3.9
Author: LauraRussellMT

Disney Dream Cruise Review

LauraRussellMT

Contributor Level: Third Mate

123 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 5

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

5 Night Bahamas (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 14, 2019

Ship: Disney Dream

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 8517

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 3 months ago

Review summary

We enjoyed the cruise, but I wouldn’t sail pregnant again. There were too many things I wanted to do, but couldn’t, like jet skis and parasailing. This was my first cruise, so I didn’t know how much I was going to miss getting to do things like this. I would say, even as a huge Disney geek who has been to the parks 25+ times, that I wouldn’t pay the extra price tag to sail on Disney opposed to other cruise lines UNLESS I have kids to travel with me on one. My husband and I have found the price tag as an adult couple isn’t worth it for us.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

For our June 2019 sailing, it was our first Disney cruise, so we didn’t expect to get a good boarding group. I think our group was in the early 30s. However, we didn’t wait longer than 20-30 minutes after the first group was called. It was a pretty streamlined experience from when we arrived to the port to when we boarded the ship.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Animator's Palate

3 out of 5

The food at Animator’s Palette was nowhere near as good as at Cabanas or the other two restaurants. Everything was either lukewarm or poorly cooked. We enjoyed the ambience although it was pretty loud.

Cabanas

3 out of 5

The food was what you would expect to be for a cruise buffet. I deducted two stars because I was so disappointed to see how wasteful Disney is here. My husband and I went to Cabanas about 20 minutes before they closed lunch. We were sitting very close to the carving station. At about 15 minutes before lunch ended, we saw the cast members take a the ham that was halfway through being carved and throw it out. They then proceeded to put an entirely new ham out for carving. We stayed until lunch ended and found they threw that one out, too. There was no need to waste the second ham like that. It could have been taken to the crew downstairs and they could have left the partially carved ham out until the end of lunch.Three stars because everything else at Cabanas was good.

Royal Palace

5 out of 5

My husband and I both enjoyed the food at Royal Palace. There isn’t anything that screams “Disney,” at you, but it is a solid restaurant.

Enchanted Garden

5 out of 5

The sea bass at Enchanted Garden was phenomenal. I enjoyed it so much that I got a second order of it.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

My husband and I found that Bingo on DCL is SO FUN! This was my husband’s favorite thing to do, they make it so entertaining. I found some of the other activities a little boring, like one of the cooking classes, which is why I’m giving four stars. I was unable to go on the AquaDuck due to being pregnant and my husband didn’t want to go on it without me.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Beauty and the Beast was wonderful, but the other shows were just so cheesy. Definitely geared towards younger children. However, all of the performers were wonderful.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Everyone was so attentive. We loved all of the cast members.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

This ship was very well laid out and easy to navigate. I enjoyed the ship tour I took. Everything was very clean. However, our stateroom was in need of TLC. Our door was difficult to open due to an issue with the card reader at the time. There was definitely wear and tear on the baseboards, doors, and on frequently-used items.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

Our room at the time when we sailed (June 2019), was very much in need of some TLC. The door card reader didn’t always work properly in terms of turning the handle after the card was read and getting the door to open. We told our stateroom host about it and he said that Disney was already aware of the issue. There were several scuff marks/scratches and nicks in the baseboards, doors, and other areas from frequent use. However, it should be noted that aside from the entry door, everything worked properly. Thankfully, no issues with plumbing or anything like that.

Ship tip

While the ship was nice, we learned that the itinerary is more important to us than the ship itself. (This was my husband and my first cruise ever on any cruise line, so we hadn’t learned this about ourselves yet.) The Dream is nice, but I wouldn’t specifically sail on this ship for the sake of the ship. Choose the itinerary that you like best rather just sailing on the Dream to say you sailed on the Dream.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Nassau, Bahamas

2 out of 5

We walked to the local Catholic Church to attend mass and there were definitely some sketchy areas we walked through after getting through the initial tourist hub right off of the ship. I’d recommend sticking to planned excursions if you’re planning to get off at Nassau rather than exploring on your own.

Thumbs Up 0

Castaway Cay (Disney Private Island)

5 out of 5

This island is beautiful and clean.

Thumbs Up 0

Port Canaveral, Florida

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

3 out of 5

We waited until our group was called to disembark, but the line to get off of the ship was still crazy long. It took about 1-2 hours to get through the entire disembarkation process from the time we got in line to get off to the time when we found our checked luggage off of the ship.

5 Comments

Sogmoore 2 months ago

Great review

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Gwbigdog 3 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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HeavySeas 3 months ago

Thanks for sharing your 2019 cruise experience

Thumbs Up 2

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cruising2004 3 months ago

Thanks for the past review.

Thumbs Up 1

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BarbSeymour 3 months ago

Most definitely long over due .

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