Disney Dream Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I am a Disney Addict!! Nothing compares to a Disney experience!!

We took this cruise in June of 2016. The top drop down menu on this website did not give me the option to select June 2016. Let me start by saying this cruise exceeded my expectations. The entire Disney Cruise Line (DCL) staff was focused on making sure that our family had a great time. Day 1 (Sunday) – We flew from Memphis to Orlando on Sunday and we arrived around 5:30 pm. We rented a car from Budget car rental and picked it up at the Orlando airport. The rental was around $100 for a one way rental. After we picked up the car, we decided to get dinner in Orlando before heading to our hotel in Cape Canavera. After dinner, we drove to our hotel. The hotel was packed when we arrived on Sunday evening because so many were preparing for cruises the next day. Suggestion: Plan to arrive the day before your cruise just in case of flight delays. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Cape Canevaral and it is a nice family hotel. This hotel is nothing fancy but it’s definitely good for a night before a cruise. Day 2 (Monday) We woke up early to get the free breakfast at the hotel. I then dropped the family off along with our luggage at Port Canaveral around 10:45. There were a lot of cars at the port and it took about 15 minutes to get them dropped off. I then headed back to drop the rental car off at Budget in Cape Canaveral. I dropped the car off but it took a while for the shuttle to get me back to the Port. They wait until the shuttle is full before heading to the port. I didn’t get back to the port until 11:50 and our boarding time was 10:45! Suggestion: If you are renting a car, drop your family off at the port as early as possible because the lines are long and there are bus and van shuttles all over. You need to plan for an hour to drop them off and to get back to the port. I caught up with the family and we completed our DCL checkin. It was really fast with no hassles. They take a group photo of your entire family when you check in for the DCL and they will give each of you a “Key to the World” which is a card that grants you access to the ship. We boarded the ship and I was really surprised at the welcome that Disney gave us. They said our family name on the loud speaker as we entered the ship and greeted us with an applause! After boarding the ship, we immediately headed to the youth activities area to get the armbands for our kids which would give the access to the youth rooms. Did you know there are over 1,300 employees working on the Disney Dream? The staff was all over the place to answer our questions and to provide to us with directions. We then went to the Cabanas buffet for lunch and it was good. The kids ate the usual chicken tenders and fries. There are 2 pools on the main deck 11 and they were packed when we arrived. My son wanted to ride the aquaduck so we got in line and it took us 45 – 50 minutes. Suggestion: if the line is long at the aquaduck, come back later. There were times when the line was less than 8 – 10 minutes long. Day 3 ( Tuesday) We arrived at the Nassau Bahamas port at 9:30. We exited the ship to walk around. Nassau is a tourist attraction and you have to be prepared. Suggestion: Be sure to take plenty of cash with you because you will need it because most places do not accept credit cards. To take a tour for my wife and 3 kids was $100. We went to Atlantis in Nassau and it is like $40 per person for a day pass. We ended up going to the beach in Nassau which turned out to be nice. Warning: There are a lot people in Nassau that depend on the tourist dollars so be prepared to be bombarded with people selling everything from seashells to kids toys. If you have been to Nassau before, I personally recommend spending this day on the ship because you will have the pool and the aquaduck to yourself for the most part. Dinner: Day 4 We traveled to the Disney Castaway Cay private island and it was beautiful. We were one of the first to get off the ship and get to the Castaway beach to reserve our chairs. If you want a seat on the beach, get off the shop as soon as possible. Be prepared to debark as soon as they announce it on the intercom. If you wait, it will be crowded and you will not be able to find a seat on the beach. We had already preordered rental bikes for the 5 of us. I strongly recommend that you do this. The trail is beautiful and there’s a couple of places along the trail where you can stop and take pictures. The bike trails is paved so even my 7 year old enjoyed it. If I could do it again, I probably would wait until I got to the island to rent the bikes because it was cheaper to rent them onsite and there are tons of bikes so you won’t have to worry about a bike not being available. I wish Disney would abandon the stop in the Bahamas and give us more time on the Disney Castaway Cay. Just not enough time on the island. It started thundering and we were unable to swim for about an hour or so. Lunch at Castaway Cay was really good. They had plenty of good food including barbecue everything to the foods that the kids love. It rained on us for about an hour or so at Castaway Cay but there are games under covered pavilions and the kids were able to place pool, table tennis, and basketball under a covered pavilion. We rented the snorkeling gear at Castaway Cay but I must say this part didn’t go so good for us. We just couldn’t get out into the water far enough to really get to see anything. Day 5 We saw one of the Disney show’s in the theater and it was awesome. I advise you to make time to see at least one of the live shows. Aquaduck - the aquaduck is a cool ride but you’ve got to get in line at the right time. The first time we got in line, it took us over an hour to get on the ride. The second time we got in line there were not many people and it took us 20 minutes. Wait until the line goes down to get on this ride. If not, you will be waiting at least an hour. Animator’s Palate - We had dinner here on our last night and it was awesome. Our server went way out and did an awesome job. This was by far the best of all 3 dinner seatings. The atmosphere is better than the other dining halls and it was super exciting. Debarkation - If you choose the early dinner for your cruise, then you will be in group 1 which requires you to leave the ship early on the last morning. Since we ate in the late dinner time, we were able to sleep in a little longer and then go to breakfast. We didn’t know this until the last night. Unless you want to get off the ship really early in the morning, I suggest taking the late dinner option when selecting your dinner time for the cruise. If you select the early dinner option, you had to be at breakfast at 7 am and depart the ship around 7:45. If you take the late dinner option, you were assigned breakfast for 8 am and you could depart around 8:30. Character lines - the lines to see the characters are really long so pack a lot of patience and snacks. Our kids didn’t want to wait in the lines and were not really interested in the pictures with the characters. Cabana’s - we enjoyed the food at the Cabana’s buffet. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rank it a 7. It’s pretty much the same thing everyday so it does get a little boring. If you have a special diet like a do just let the cooks now and they will work up something for you. I don’t eat pork or beef so I requested turkey sausage each morning for breakfast and they would make it and bring it to me. Dinner - The food in the dining rooms was ok. On a scale of 1 to 10 i would rank it a 6. Just not enough variety for what I was looking for. It seems to be a lot of the same menu items each night with not enough of what you would expect to see for dinner. I’m a seafood lover and I didn’t salmon on either night. The kids ate chicken nuggets and fries every night but those had to be special ordered because they were not on the menu. Most evenings, we would leave the dining hall and go upstairs and grab something from the burger stand or quick dinner spots. Stateroom - our stateroom was really nice. It was 5 of us and we didn’t feel too crowded. Each of our 3 kids had their own bed. It’s really cool the way the beds are hidden in the rooms. Our Stateroom host, Conrado Martinez, was excellent. He took really good care of us and made the room sparkle every evening. He made it so nice that we really didn’t want to touch anything to mess it up because it was so clean. Server - Our server, Surya, was great. He didn’t an awesome job. He took really good care of us from the beginning to end. He always checked on us and wanted to make sure that our service was not just good but excellent. Survey - You will be given a survey at the end of the cruise and this survey is very important based on the comments that I received from the staff and servers. Some of them will go out of their way to make sure that you leave good comments. Be sure to fill out the survey and leave your comments. Tips - I strongly encourage you to wait until the last day to give your servers the tip card.If you give them the tip card the day before and they are not happy with your tip, you might not get the best service on the last day for breakfast. Again, wait until you leave and then give the server and assistants your tip card that shows how much you are tipping. Activities - The kids really enjoyed the ping pong tables and the full court basketball court that was on the ship. The only thing we did’t like was that the basketball court was often closed because of the ball that would bounce on the floorboard could interrupt dinner activities. The basketball court is only open for limited hours so please found out as soon as you enter the ship. The kids also enjoyed the onboard shuffleboard game. It was really fun. The onboard bingo games for the adults was also pretty cool! The kid clubs were awesome! The staff was great and our kids loved it. My 14 year old went to a club for the big kids and he said it was really cool. They had all of the video game consoles and some really cool activities and games. My 8 year old daughter and 10 year old son also enjoyed the club that they went to. They didn’t want to leave when we went to pick them up.

This is the cruise that started my DCL obsession!! Cruise was 8/15 to the Bahamas! 3 nights. Didn’t show that option

Thankful to all the staff who made this a memorable experience. Disney spirit of happiness and joy at its best.

Disney Cruise Line is where it’s at! The Disney Dream is a beautiful ship and I love how they decorate the boat during the holidays. We sailed in October for Halloween on the high seas and had such a great time. The boat was a little rocky but that didn’t stop our party. The kids clubs were phenomenal and we really enjoyed rotating from restaurant to restaurant each night. There was never a shortage of things to do on board and the characters were always out and about. We can’t wait to cruise on Disney again.

I would definitely recommend Disney cruise.  We went on a carnival cruise in April and I preferred this one.  We have a 4 year old who had a ton of fun in Andy's room and wanted to keep going back.  I felt safe and secure leaving her there because no one but me and my husband could get her (with id, and password).  They are very clean having the kids as well as adults wash their hands in and out of the rooms.  

I wish the Halloween party was bigger than it was.  My husband and I brought our outfits but decided not to wear them since only kids were dressed up.  It was also on a port day which I think made it not that big of a deal.  My daughter got lots of candy which we don't need to buy any for halloween. 

Believe was an incredible show.  If you go on a disney cruise and don't do this...then you shouldn't go because it is a must do!

There is so much to do and not enough time.  Some things overlapped and we couldn't do some things we wanted to.

I wish that they made like a bracelet family craft so you had a keepsake.  We went to a family craft and they said you would be making some kind of paper mummy.....so we left right away.  That didn't seem like a disney craft or keepsake to me. (very upset.  would have been nice to have a keepsake from this trip)

If you are a DVC member, be sure to check in with them for special gifts certain days. I love freebees as i am sure everyone else does.  

Aquaduck is awesome.  Since our daughter was too small, we put her in Oceanears club which again she wanted to keep going back to and my husband and I went on it multiple times.  Our first time was watching the sunset.  It was beautiful!

The fireworks on board AMAZING.  Our daughter goes to bed early, 8....we kept her up and it was definitely worth it.  She loved it and it was her first firework show.  What better way then out to sea on the Disney Dream.

Food was awesome.  Cast members were more than accommodating and so nice!

One thing I did not like was seating the first night with random people.  We didn't even talk to each other.  It was awkward.  So I immediately went to the front desk and requested our own table which they did the rest of our trip and what we prefer. 

The eggs aren't good.  Wish they were better because i love eggs.

Best cruise ever. Disney never disappoints. If you want great dining room service ask for waiter Alex Ocampo. Been with Disney for years and will make your cruise

We have sailed DCL several times with our children and absolutely love everything. The Disney Dream is amazing. If you have elementary to middle school children, make sure they do the clue finding activity. We let our children take the wave phones and head out on their own. They LOVED it. Do it on every trip. Food is great. No complaints. Even my college son and girlfriend love this ship. Everyone is nice, never had an issue with anyone. If you go to Nassau, and are interested in the history and fun for the children, do the Junkanoo excursion. Sampling different juices, goes over history of Christmas tradition on Christmas Eve, art activities, etc. They loved it. Embarking and disembarking are a breeze. If you are there EARLY, you get to start checking out stuff to do before the crowd gets started. Main dining rooms are beautiful and staff is wonderful. Any questions, message me.

What should a cruise line do when a guest has symptoms consistent with Norovirus (Norwalk virus)?  One might hope that they would try to quickly determine if it was Norovirus -- then work  to protect other guests from infection.  However, in our case, when reporting our son's acute vomiting and diarrhea, we were discouraged from seeing a doctor both by the nurse at Health Services and by Guest Services.  And we were the only ones concerned with isolating our son from other guests.  Although our son still had active vomiting and diarrhea at 7:30 am on the morning of disembarkation, we were told to disembark with the other guests and get on the Disney Cruise Line bus.  They seemed to have no interest in protecting other passengers from a ship-acquired infection as long as they would make it off the ship before showing symptoms. 

By limiting our son's hydration, we were able to prevent any major incidents on the bus.  But our apologies go out to the next occupant of his seat. As well as anyone touching the hand rails he used.

It used to be that Disney was one of the few cruise lines that seemed able to avoid Norovirus infections, and that was one of the justifications for their price premium.  Both recent news http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-wonder-sick-vomiting-20160502-story.html

and our own experience suggest that is no longer true. And indeed one wonders how many reported infections there would be if guests were not discouraged from seeing the doctor. Handing out hand wipes is a good start. Efforts to prevent the spread of disease would be even better.

A few examples of specific steps that are not in place, but could help:

- Explosive diarrhea makes even adults incontinent.  Stock up on big kid and adult diapers for use in the event of an outbreak.

- Use a rolling quarantine for disembarkation that isolated infectious guests from others.

- Notify bus lines of the need to disinfect surfaces after transporting sick guests.

We would have appreciated more compassion as well, but would settle for more concern about and efforts to limit the spread of disease both within and beyond the ship.

Best vacation ever! Only thing is the variety of food is not that great! The food in general was not that good. Just not a lot to choose from. Other than the food it was awesome! Neinum(I know that is spelled wrong) kept our room clean and organized! He was so nice and my daughter just loved him! Hope we get him again on our next cruise!!

We just finished our first Disney cruise and we can't wait to schedule another one.  The ship was beautiful.  Service was excellent and the kids had plenty to keep them occupied and having fun.  We had an added bonus because some Disney TV personalities were on board filming.  My daughter was able to meet one of her favorite Disney stars.

We took our grandson on this cruise and he had a blast. As a matter of fact, he didn't want to do anything with us, all he wanted to do was stay in the play area. We actually had to drag him away to eat dinner one night. By the end of the day, he was exhausted and fell into bed. The private island was great, unfortunately I came down with a stomach bug and just laid around at the adults only beach all day.

Whether you are a single person with no kids or a parent with a large family, this cruise line will fulfill your vacation needs.  The service is excellent.  The ship is immaculate and the food is 5 star!  I will always sail with Disney because I know what to expect.  Most rooms have a veranda and 2 bathrooms.  All coke products are included in the price.  And you can carry on as much water/drinks as you like. Absolutely worth the price.

We decided to take an Easter cruise as my children (ages 12, 15, 17) had several days off from school around the holiday.  This was our second Disney cruise (and 6th overall cruise), and it was excellent.  The ship is beautiful (well maintained, very clean), and the food is more than plentiful and delicious, and the entire staff couldn't have been more accommodating.  I have zero complaints; the cruise was perfect.  I was a little surprised that the Dream didn't do more for Easter--traditional Easter dinner, Easter Bunny visits, an egg hunt, etc.  They did offer three different Easter services/Mass on Sunday.

The grandkids had a great time.  So much to do movies, shows, pool, games, meeting characters, and so much more.  A great way to make memories that will last a life time.  Would do it again in a heart beat!

everything was good, with an exception of a few things...

1. The first night we ordered a sea bass, as it was recommended by our servers, and, boy, we were disappointed. Meal presentation was excellent, but the taste was like eating a went-bad stinky fish.

2. If you are 5-10 minutes late to your dinner, no one is at the door to great you and show you your table. And since we dine in different restaurants every night, you have to ask someone to show you your way. Believe me, chasing servers is the last thing you want to do.

3. in the Bahamas drivers are crazy. we almost got into an accident because of driver's imbalance, lack of patience. my personal opinion, visiting The Bahamas as a city, is the last thing I would do on my exotic trip to Caribbean. I wish the first stop was like the castaway cay - that was awesome!

This time tried ocean view cabin (2528) overall very nice and convenient, Enchanted Garden steps away and mid ship helps a lot with the movement. Very easy to get in and out. To get out of the ship very quick. Over all very happy with the location until the last day. Forget about sleeping the last day because the noise of the workers won't let you. From 2 am to 7 am the baggage is being fixed and unloaded and the noise is just too much. 

Excellent schedule, best service and easy check-in and check-out. Only concern is the onshore tourist program to Blue Lagoon we booked on-line didn't meet our expectation. The info of local transportation of port to ferry provided by the agency is totally incorrect.

This was the best vacation I have ever had. All the entertainment, food and shows are just steps away. there is something for you no matter what your mood or personality. plenty of party times and quiet space. my kids, age 8 and 5, loved it. you don't have to worry about traffic, directions, standing in line for tickets like so many land vacations. need a nap? need a shower? no problem then get back to the fun.

Great ship and staff will highly recommend this to other families with young kids. Booking with united was easy. Cast away island was great fun, relaxing and great things to do with the family. The beach was great.