The TCD Gang Sails Again!: A Four Night Disney Dream Trip Report

[michele j 9]

patiently waiting for next update :)

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I think some of the princess must work backstage.  I noticed some of the actors from the plays were the handlers for the characters.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

patiently waiting for next update :)

 

Thank you for being patient.

 

Your wait is almost over.

 

I think some of the princess must work backstage.  I noticed some of the actors from the plays were the handlers for the characters.

 

One thing's for sure- everyone works hard on the ship.  There's no way those princesses get to lie around all cruise and just pop in for a few appearances.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here comes that update I owe you from yesterday.

 

Thanks for not complaining.

 

At breakfast, we discussed our plans for the day.  There are all kinds of things to do on Nassau.  DCL offers all kinds of excursions.  Or, you can walk into town yourself and shop or sightsee.  Or go to a bar.  Like Senor Frogs.  That's what Twin #1 wanted to do.  Luckily for me, the other girls wanted none of that.  They wanted to stay on the ship and swim, ride the Aqua Duck, sit in the sun, and participate in some of the activities on board.  So, I offered to take Twin #1 to Senor Frogs and buy her a drink.  I knew what her answer would be.  And I was right.  She said no way.  How would that be fun?  Going to a bar with your dad?  So that resolved that problem.  I'm still not sure if I actually would have bought that drink had she called my bluff.  I think I would have, though.  She's 18.  It was legal for me to drink when I was 18, and boy did I.  I didn't really see a good reason for me to deny her a legal drink if she wanted one.  But, even if her sisters wanted to go, I was going to be there and not let them out of my sight.  Nassau isn't the nicest place in the world.

 

So, we stayed on the ship.  This is the second time we've done that while visiting Nassau.  And I don't regret it a bit.  The Dream is so nice that it's hard to describe.  Nassau is a typical cruise port. If you leave the ship, you'll be bombarded by the locals, and see some stuff that isn't so nice and pretty as you travel through town.  Why bother?  I paid a lot of money for us to be on this ship, and I was glad to just stay on it.

 

We began our first morning on board with some after breakfast Aqua Ducking:

 

 

While waiting for our turn, we could see the top deck of the Carnival ship parked next to us.  This is the Carnival Ecstasy.  We sailed on it many years ago, like more than 10 years ago.  They've added some fake palm trees on the top deck:

 

 

You can see the Ecstasy's water play area in these photos.  It looks like it could be fun, but it ain't the Aqua Duck:

 

 

 

Looking down the channel:

 

 

There were a lot of clouds this morning, but luckily, no rain ever came:

 

 

This comic strip is posted in the stairwell leading up to the AD.  It used to make no sense to me.  Then I realized, they want you to read it from right to left:

 

 

 

They were playing the Emperor's New Groove on the Funnel Vision, you can see it through the tube in this photo:

 

 

This was supposed to be a shot of the Royal Caribbean ship which was docked on the other side of the Dream, but I waited too long to take it:

 

 

Here's a look at that Royal Caribbean ship- it's huge. There are two-story loft cabins located at the very top, and look at how many cabins have verandahs:

 

 

The Royal Caribbean ship blocked our view of the Atlantis Resort.  On prior cruises, the ship next to us hasn't been this tall:

 

 

There's the Atlantis Resort over there. Don't worry, that menacing looking cloud blew by without incident:

 

 

Here's a look down the channel that leads to the dock.  There's a little lighthouse there on the end which we will get a better look at when we leave:

 

 

A little later in the morning, I looked down and saw a long, long line of guests waiting to get back on the Royal Caribbean ship. They all had to go through the little yellow building you see down there.  They were roasting in the hot sun while they waited:

 

 

The line went all the away around this corner and down the dock:

 

 

That does not look like fun.

 

Here's a look at the Carnival ship which was on our other side. That's Nassau in the background.  The tower looking thing on the hill in the background is a place a lot of guests walk to. I might go there some day:

 

 

The adult pool had some customers by late morning/early afternoon.  But, it never gets much busier than this:

 

 

The Royal Caribbean ship had a Flow Rider on the back, and there seemed to be a lot of guests gathered for that:

 

 

I couldn't get a good photo of it, but the back of the ship has a huge open atrium.  I think they perform shows back there, and that they have zip lining too:

 

 

The Royal Caribbean ship started its engines at around 12:30, and it looked like they were getting ready to go.  That is why there was such a crowd of guests boarding in the late morning:

 

 

While we had some clouds, the skies around us were blue:

 

 

One more look at the Ecstasy. They had a whole golf course laid out up top:

 

 

This is a shot of the Nassau shopping district.  The big tent that used to house the straw market is no longer where it used to be.  I'm not sure where the Straw Market is now:

 

 

Here's another look at the Ecstasy.  You can tell that it's an older ship, because it has very few verandahs.  New ships have verandahs everywhere they can stick them:

 

 

The Royal Caribbean ship sailed early- right at 1 pm.  We later found out this ship was going on a Caribbean itinerary, so they had a long way to travel:

 

 

Once the Royal Caribbean ship was gone, we could see the Atlantis Resort clearly:

 

 

You can see the Royal Caribbean ship sailing off beyond this little spit of land near us.  Also note that there are houses on that little spit. What a view they have:

 

 

That crowded dock is empty now.  As far as we could see, everyone made the sailing of the Royal Caribbean ship.  If you ever want to see something funny, do a search on YouTube for passengers missing their ship:

 

 

The Atlantis Resort.  It's a nice place to visit. But, we've been there and done that, and I would rather stay on the ship:

 

 

We hung out around the pool until early afternoon.

 

By the time we headed back to our cabins, I had 6 AD rides under my belt.

 

10 would be easy.

 

We had to head in just a bit early, as we had been invited to a special reception with the captain.

 

We will be heading there next.

 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I think some of the princess must work backstage.  I noticed some of the actors from the plays were the handlers for the characters.

 

Yes, INC was very excited to learn that Ms White's handler was also Tarzan in the show.  For some reason, she really liked Tarzan.  Really. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I so understand you staying on the ship in Nassau.  Been there, done that.  Not much to offer.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Special Captain Reception?

 

Is that for return cruisers?

 

Or are you hosting a reception in one of the bars while wearing your new hat?

 

6 AD rides is impressive.

 

I would settle for one at this point.

 

I like how you handled the drink issue.

 

Never underestimate a parent's power to embarrass their children when needed.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Yes, INC was very excited to learn that Ms White's handler was also Tarzan in the show.  For some reason, she really liked Tarzan.  Really. 

I can't blame her for liking Tarzan...

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Awesome getting in 6 rides on the aqua duck.

[Beckers 1,136]

I so understand you staying on the ship in Nassau. Been there, done that. Not much to offer.

Same here. Will never leave the ship again there!

[Beckers 1,136]

I would settle for one at this point.

I like how you handled the drink issue.

Never underestimate a parent's power to embarrass their children when needed.

Ditto on all of the above.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

TCD, as you might remember, we also stayed on the ship in Nassau last year, despite never having been there before.  That was based in large part on my conversations with you prior to our cruise...and I never regreted it.  We really enjoyed the ship while everyone else was disembarked. 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You did EXACTLY what I would have done with the drink.... If you want to go, I'll take you. She's going to college, nothing wrong with you buying her a drink in a place where it's legal. But there's no way I'd let that happen without adult supervision.

[We4mickey 6]

Since there are many CM from the Phillipines I was teasing about a dish that I used to get while stationed at Cubi Point/ Subic Bay that I loved called Pansit. Guess what they brought to our table while on the Fiends Dream cruise and we had enough to share with anybody in the group who wanted to try it. DCL will cook just about anything you want, on the menu or not.

That dish was fantastic too!!! I could eat that all the time.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

 

 

I'm going to try to give you that second update today, Marty.

 

I think there will be plenty of bonus features at the end, too.

 

TCD

:thank-you-smiley3:   :mademyday:

 

I do have a question.  Is the water in the pools regular pool water, or is it just salt water pumped in from the ocean?  I ask because many years ago, I went on the now defunct Cape Canaveral Cruise Lines Dolphin IV with some frioends.  I was expecting something like the Princess Cruise ships seen on the Love Boat.  I was shocked when the pool was filled with yucky looking sea water.  Hardly anyone got in the pool during the cruise.  I asked about it at the time and was told all cruise ships just use sea water in their pools.  But the pools you picture look so nice.  It made me wonder if they had just handed me a line.

 

Within a year of our cruise, the ship was forced into "lay up" due to problems with the fresh water storage tanks. Hmmm....

[DaveInTN 3,247]

The Dream's pools are filled with nice clean pool water. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Yes, INC was very excited to learn that Ms White's handler was also Tarzan in the show.  For some reason, she really liked Tarzan.  Really. 

 

Strange.  What does Tarzan have that you don't have?  Must be that yell.  You could do that.

 

I so understand you staying on the ship in Nassau.  Been there, done that.  Not much to offer.

 

True.  Remember, I grew up in New Jersey, so I've been to much worse places than Nassau.  But, for us, there is no good reason to leave the ship and walk around some touristy port.  Some people claim the shopping is good.  I call BS on that .  The last thing I bought on Nassau was a package or rum cakes from a place called Tortuga Rum Cakes.  I had to schlep that box of rum cakes back to the ship and then home.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that I could have ordered the same exact rum cakes off of Amazon, and have the delivered to my home for free, at a lower price.  No more shopping on Nassau for me.

 

Special Captain Reception?

 

Is that for return cruisers?

 

Or are you hosting a reception in one of the bars while wearing your new hat?

 

6 AD rides is impressive.

 

I would settle for one at this point.

 

I like how you handled the drink issue.

 

Never underestimate a parent's power to embarrass their children when needed.

 

Good comments.  Funny about the captain's reception.  You'll hear about it in the next update.

 

I can't blame her for liking Tarzan...

 

Why?  What's so great about Tarzan?  He's an ape-man for crying out loud!

 

Awesome getting in 6 rides on the aqua duck.

 

Obviously, I was feeling pretty good about getting my 10 rides in at that point.

 

Same here. Will never leave the ship again there!

 

Ah, come on, you're from Jersey.  Nassau would seem nice.

 

 

TCD, as you might remember, we also stayed on the ship in Nassau last year, despite never having been there before.  That was based in large part on my conversations with you prior to our cruise...and I never regreted it.  We really enjoyed the ship while everyone else was disembarked. 

 

I'm glad that you followed my advice.  There is no good reason to leave the ship there.

 

You did EXACTLY what I would have done with the drink.... If you want to go, I'll take you. She's going to college, nothing wrong with you buying her a drink in a place where it's legal. But there's no way I'd let that happen without adult supervision.

 

I really can't take any credit for being wise in this instance.  The situation resolved itself.  We have been really lucky with our oldest daughter making good choices since she has been away from home.  Hopefully, the twins will too.

 

:thank-you-smiley3:   :mademyday:

 

I do have a question.  Is the water in the pools regular pool water, or is it just salt water pumped in from the ocean?  I ask because many years ago, I went on the now defunct Cape Canaveral Cruise Lines Dolphin IV with some frioends.  I was expecting something like the Princess Cruise ships seen on the Love Boat.  I was shocked when the pool was filled with yucky looking sea water.  Hardly anyone got in the pool during the cruise.  I asked about it at the time and was told all cruise ships just use sea water in their pools.  But the pools you picture look so nice.  It made me wonder if they had just handed me a line.

 

Within a year of our cruise, the ship was forced into "lay up" due to problems with the fresh water storage tanks. Hmmm....

 

 

The Dream's pools are filled with nice clean pool water. 

 

Dave is right.  I'm not sure whether it is still that way on other cruise lines, but on our prior Royal Caribbean, Princess and Carnival cruises, the pools were salt water.  And, it didn't even seem like they had filtration equipment.  They just pumped the water into the pools from the ocean, and drained the pools when necessary.  The odd thing about our pre-DCL cruises is that these other cruise lines would drain the pools on port days, so nobody could swim while the ships were in port.  I don't know if it's still that way on the other cruise lines, but the Disney ships use regular pool water.  I'm not so sure that it's always nice and clean though.  There are a lot of people in those pools all day long.

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

We call Nassau tropical Camden

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We call Nassau tropical Camden

 

LOL!

 

Gotta love that Jersey humor!

 

For the record, Nassau is much nicer than Camden.

 

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Tarzan is a girl thing.  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We need an update!

 

So here we go.

 

It's still Monday.  We are parked in Nassau.  But we're on the ship.

 

Hung out around the pool all day.  Watched Disney movies on the Funnel Vision.  Drank some beers.

 

When we got hungry, we grabbed a slice of pizza or something from the quick serve window.  The pizza is great.  They have peperoni and cheese, and the standard pizza combinations, but they also have specialty pizzas that they rotate in.  For example, one pizza was pears and prosciutto with gorgonzola cheese. I never would have thought of putting that on a pizza in a million years-but it was good!

 

I mentioned above that the pools are kind of crowded.  I think a lot of guests are surprised by how small the pools are.  I'm not surprised, because cruise ship pools are always small. Check it out- the Donald pool:

 

 

You can see some of the Mickey pool in this shot along with the very long Aqua Duck line:

 

 

Another look at the Mickey pool:

 

 

One awesome thing that I haven't mentioned about the DCL ship is towels.  Yes towels.  You want a towel?  Take all you want from the boxes they have scattered around the deck:

 

 

When you're done- put the towels here:

 

 

You don't have to bring your own.  You don't have to schlep them from your cabin.  They never run out.  Love it.

 

Here's another Atlantis photo.  I guess I forgot that I had already taken a bunch:

 

 

I find the nice houses on this very thin spit of land fascinating.  Who would build a house in such a vulnerable place?:

 

 

We finished up with our day in the sun around 4, and headed down to the cabins.  We had received an invitation to a special reception for Gold and Platinum Castaway Club members which would take place at 5, and we all wanted to go and see the Villains Tonight show at 6:15.

 

While in the cabin, waiting my turn for a shower, I took some photos of our Castaway Club gifts.

 

The first gift was this backpack:

 

 

We got one of those for each cabin.  Inside the backpack were two containers of those Mickey shaped cheese crackers.  You know, the ones like goldfish crackers?  Only they taste terrible?  Those.

 

Later, we received one of these gifts in each cabin- that is the Gold member add-on gift:

 

 

That's a luggage strap, a journal, pen, and some written propaganda.  But, it was all "free," so who am I to complain?

 

While I had the camera out, I decided to take a photo of our bed, and this pillow, which Mrs. TCD really likes.  They sell the same pillow in the ship gift shop for $175 or something:

 

 

Look how nice everything looks.  If we weren't in bed, it was made by our cabin steward.  He would sneak right in, and make the bed.  Quick.  One time, Mrs. TCD was in the shower, and I got up to use the restroom.  When I came back, the bed was made. Our cabin steward was good:

 

 

If you look carefully, you can see that there are Intentional Deliberate Hidden Mickeys in the lamp shades:

 

 

Oh, I forgot to mention something important:  Our cabin steward for this cruise was the same exact man we had last year.  I recognized him right away that first day, and said hello to him.  I even remembered his name.  I called him Nala.  That's how I remembered it- like Simba's girlfriend.  His name is really Nayla, but Nala worked.  He couldn't believe that I remembered him and especially that I remembered his name.  He gave us extra great service for the whole cruise.  He is the best cabin steward we've ever had on any cruise. 

 

After I took the bed photos, I snapped a few looking out our porthole.  We had a view of that spit of land we were just looking at from up top. The dock you see in the foreground is where that Royal Caribbean ship had been tied up earlier:

 

 

We could even see Atlantis from down here on Deck 2:

 

 

Soon, it was time for us to go to the cocktail party.  Only my oldest DD wanted to go.  We have all been to these before. They used to be open to all returning cruisers, but a few years ago, Disney began to limit them to just Gold and Platinum Castaway Club members.  They used to have punch and cookies, and chips.  Now it's fancy hors d'oeuvers  and  champagne.  Like this:

 

 

You know, I could be enjoying a bratwurst or slice of peperoni pizza up on deck 11, but here I am eating this weird stuff.  P.S. that isn't even champagne- it's a bellini.  Which is a combination of some kind of sparkling wine and some kind of peach juice.  Really.  A girls' drink for sure.  But, they weren't passing out beers, so what could I do?

 

This party was hosted in the sports bar, which is called club 687 on the Dream.  They have a really nice big flat screen in here:

 

 

On shelves next to the flat screen, they have photos of the construction of the Dream.  I like how they're in black and white. They remind me of all the photos of the construction of Disney World that have been shared on Discamper's Welcome to the '70's thread.  Here are a few . . .

 

This is one- the strange shapes you see in the foreground are little sculptures that they had on the shelves in front of the photos:

 

 

I really like this photo of the Mickey pool under construction:

 

 

And this is the hull:

 

 

Guess who didn't show up to the reception?

 

The captain!

 

Instead, there were lots of other ship officers mingling and schmoozing.  And the cruise director. We got to see an "exclusive" video that told us about exciting upcoming new itineraries.  The same ones that have been discussed on message boards and blogs already.

 

But, we did get to have a meet and greet with Donald:

 

 

And, as we left, we were presented with a genuine Disney Parks rice crispie treat (sorry another blurry selfie) :

 

 

I'm not sure that I would take the time to go to this reception again.  At the old ones, they gave out small door prizes.  Like a DCL clock.  I won one of those on a previous cruise.  Here, no prizes.  No captain.  And rabbit food and girls' drinks.

 

If I go next time, I'm going to bring my captain's hat.  If the real captain is a no-show, then I will make a presentation, and order the staff to get some men's drinks and chicken wings.

 

Oh well, at least now we all know what happens at these parties.

 

While we were having fun at the reception, the Carnival ship left.  Which gave us a good view of the Nassau cruise terminal:

 

 

Same place, just turned to the right a bit:

 

 

I headed down to the cabin, and got ready to go to the show.

 

At around 6, we headed out of Nassau.  We got a great look at the lighthouse at the end of that spit of land through our porthole:

 

 

It was right outside our window:

 

 

Some crazy Bahama mons were riding jet skis between us and that spit of land, weaving in and out of huge pieces of concrete.  Crazy mon:

 

 

 

One last look at the lighthouse before we hit the open sea:

 

 

Next up- night 2 on the Dream.

 

It's what they call optional dress up night.  You will get to see how we interpreted that, and how other guests interpreted it as well.

 

I will also reveal the TCD Best Dressed Passenger award for this cruise.

 

So, be sure to check back.

 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Those appetizers look like they SMB.  Oh well, they were free I suppose.  Or something to that effect. 

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

The last thing I bought on Nassau was a package or rum cakes from a place called Tortuga Rum Cakes. I had to schlep that box of rum cakes back to the ship and then home. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I could have ordered the same exact rum cakes off of Amazon, and have the delivered to my home for free, at a lower price. No more shopping on Nassau for me.

Dave is right. I'm not sure whether it is still that way on other cruise lines, but on our prior Royal Caribbean, Princess and Carnival cruises, the pools were salt water. And, it didn't even seem like they had filtration equipment. They just pumped the water into the pools from the ocean, and drained the pools when necessary. The odd thing about our pre-DCL cruises is that these other cruise lines would drain the pools on port days, so nobody could swim while the ships were in port. I don't know if it's still that way on the other cruise lines, but the Disney ships use regular pool water. I'm not so sure that it's always nice and clean though. There are a lot of people in those pools all day long.

TCD

TCD have you checked Publix for the rum cakes, ours always had the same ones you could buy in the islands.

In 2010 our Princess cruise they used fresh water and never drained it, same with our Celebrity cruise in 2011. We feel the same way about port days it's our favorite time to hit the pool and enjoy the ship.

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

This is a great trip report TCD! I can't wait to take my family on a Disney cruise!

Quick hijack:

P.S. that isn't even champagne- it's a bellini. Which is a combination of some kind of sparkling wine and some kind of peach juice. Really. A girls' drink for sure. But, they weren't passing out beers, so what could I do?

TCD

CP and I had an amazing Bellini experience once. Last year when we were in Venice Italy I took CP to Harry's Bar the place where the Bellini was invented! It's a small place right on the grand canal and has been there forever. It was even a favorite hangout of Hemingway's. It's usually packed but we were able to get a seat at the tiny bar and the Bellini maker was right in front of us and took good care of us. It was a great experience so now whenever I hear about or see a Bellini I think of that time.

The problem with that is just like you said the drink looks very girlie at most places and isn't near as good. In Harry's a Bellini is served in a manlier cocktail style glass not a champagne flute and has a lot more too it ingredient wise. I ordered one in the new Italian place in epcot once and regretted it, from now on I'll only order one in Venice :).

Ok sorry for the hijack.

WBI

Oh I should add thanks for taking the time to do these trip reports I know how much time and effort it take and I think people take that for granted. Thank you!

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Not a fan of champagne or the like.

What were the twins up to i wonder while the elders were at the non-captain captain's reception?

I would have been longing for wings, brats, and beers as well.

You did the rest of us a public service though and i applaud you for it.

If any of us get invited to that reception in the future, a polite decline is in order!