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

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

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

 

Yup.  Totally free.  If you don't count what the six cruises cost to get me the invite to the Castaway Club Gold/Platinum reception.

 

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

 

I haven't noticed them in Publix.  I do love me some rum cake, though, so thanks for the tip.

 

I think the cruise industry has changed a lot in the last ten years.  I have only sailed on Disney since 2004. Before that, on other cruise lines, we had sea water in the pools, could not carry on any alcohol, and you had to pay if you wanted room service.  Most ships did not have very many verandahs either.   A lot of things seem to have changed since then.

 

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

Quick hijack:

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!

 

No need to apologize for the hijack.  Before this cruise, I wasn't even sure what a bellini was.  Even after I drank one, I didn't know it was invented in Venice.  So I learned something today.

 

I like how you will only drink your bellinis in Venice now.  I'm sure you will be going there a lot with WBI Junior in a giant stroller and you taking his picture with an iPad.

 

And thanks for the thanks for the TR writing.  As I've said before, I write trip reports because I enjoy re-living the trip.  And I especially enjoy being able to go back and read old ones.

 

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!

 

I'll probably go to another reception in the future.  This one was kind of lame, but I can't imagine that they all are.  Someone said at this reception that the chairman of DCL was at the one the previous week.  It would be a hoot to meet some big muckity muck like that and show him the TCD LOF.

 

TCD

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Not sure the free food was that great of a bonus if all the food is free to begin with, except of course the up charge restaurants.

It would have been much better if you played captain though.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Not sure the free food was that great of a bonus if all the food is free to begin with, except of course the up charge restaurants.

It would have been much better if you played captain though.

 

True.  Who wants rabbit food and rice crispy treats when you can order steak fries and Mickey Premium ice cream bars from room service?

 

That decides it- I am going to go again and bring my captain's hat the next time.  Even if the real captain shows up, I can still have some fun with that.

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

We don't do the bubbly crap either. When we were married we had sprite in our toasting flutes. Much better.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I think we ought to have one more update before we all start the weekend.

 

This one will take us through the end of night two.  Which means we will kind of be half way there.  I say kind of, because I think the Castaway Cay day, which is next, is a way bigger photo day than our Nassau day was.

 

Anyway, we went to the show.  It was Villains Tonight.  We saw it on our previous cruise.  Excellent!  The main character who introduces the various scenes and walks us through the plot is Hades, from the Hercules movie.  His character tells a lot of jokes throughout the show.  They obviously tweak the script to try to keep in contemporary.  One of his jokes was about the new celebrity baby North West, for example. 

 

After the show, we headed to dinner.

 

Mrs. TCD and I stopped by the bar in the lobby and had a drink.  I had that mojito I've been craving since our last cruise.  Mrs. TCD a glass of wine.  On our last cruise, we befriended a bartender whose specialty was mojitos.  I missed her when I tasted mine this time.

 

After a while, the girls stopped by, and we took some photos.

 

The girls:

 

 

All of the girls:

 

 

More of the same:

 

 

TCD in a suit.  I don't think we've seen a photo of that before:

 

 

I can be a bit of a cut-up at times.  Especially after a day of beer, bellinis, and mojitos:

 

 

Twin #2 trying to look sophisticated with Mrs. TCD's wine:

 

 

The twins.  I often tell them that they each got only half a brain.  And Twin #2 got the bigger half:

 

 

Photos like this are why I'm willing to spend the money to go on DCL with my family:

 

 

Extreme close up:

 

 

As you see, we dressed up a bit for the optional dress up night.  DCL has a dress code, and one of the things it says is that shorts are not permitted in the dining room.

 

That rule apparently doesn't apply to this guy, who marches to his own drummer:

 

 

Do you see his shirt?  And his shoes?  I awarded him the TCD Best Dressed on the Ship award right there on the spot.  Even though it was only the second night of the cruise.  Who could top that?

 

I guess the guy in the white shorts ahead of the dude in the high heeled sneakers didn't read the dress code either.

 

I took this photo to show the duo singing again, but it also shows a couple more men in shorts:

 

 

Apparently optional dress up night means wear whatever you like.  You're on vacation.  Nobody can tell you what to do.  You are the only one who matters anyway, right?

 

I got to sit next to our tablemates again, so no food photos from me.

 

Twin #1 picked up my slack and got a photo of her appetizer. I believe that this was some kind of a soufflé:

 

 

And a steak and shrimp:

 

 

This appears to be some other beef dish.  Or, this might be the wild boar.  Yes, I think that is what it is:

 

 

A dessert trio:

 

 

I haven't mentioned our dining room servers yet.

 

They were excellent.

 

And, they did magic tricks and brain teasers.

 

The brain teasers were of the crayon variety.

 

Here's one.

 

Move just one of these crayons to make a square:

 

 

The solution:

 

 

See, by sliding one of the crayons just a bit, you made a really little square in the area where they meet.

 

You like?

 

Here's another.

 

Make these four crayons into two, moving only one:

 

 

The solution:

 

 

See- if you moved that one crayon, you can make it look like a plus sign?  1 + 1 is 2, get it?

 

One more.

 

See these two Tree-Angles?  (our server, like all of them, was not from this land- that's how he said triangles-sometimes I had no idea what he was saying to me-OK most of the time- but we would all collaborate after he said something to us, and we could usually figure it out).  Any way, move one crayon and make the two Tree-Angles into four Tree-Angles:

 

 

Here's the solution:

 

 

See- by moving that one crayon, it looks like the number four in front of the Tree-Angle.  So, four Tree-Angles.  Get it?

 

Guess what we didn't have time to do after dinner?

 

The Aqua Duck.

 

It stinks that it closed at 11 now instead of 12.  That 11 to 12 hour used to be our prime riding time.

 

Tonight, we couldn't rush up to the Aqua Duck because the girls needed to meet Chip and Dale in their fancy clothes.  They love those chipmunks.  They are the female human version of them, you know:

 

 

 

We all got in on the chipmunk action:

 

 

Even though the AD closed at 11, the pool was open until 12, so we did pay a visit to the top deck.  I love it at night:

 

 

Twin #2 is over there on the left watching the movie:

 

 

After we closed the pool down, it was time for room service.

 

Twin #1 and I remembered those chicken wings.  We got two orders tonight:

 

 

And, that's the last photo from Monday night.

 

Tomorrow is Castaway Cay day.  The best part of any DCL cruise for us.  No question about it.

 

We will pick it up early tomorrow morning as we sail toward the island.

 

TCD

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

I think we ought to have one more update before we all start the weekend.

TCD in a suit. I don't think we've seen a photo of that before:

Very dapper looking there!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great Nassau day!  Love the pic of you and Mrs. TCD.

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

The pics of you all with chip and dale were nicely done.

Platform shoes dude was downright scary.

I am patiently waiting for a giant platter of Mickey bars to show up in one of these pics.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm sure all the servers learn the same crayon tricks....but those are the exact ones our servers used last year.  Your server's name wasn't Tomas, from the Czech Republic, was it? 

[alexwyattmommy 181]

The crayon tricks look like a fun way to wait for your food to arrive.

I love the family dressed up.  Great photos.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

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

Good to know.  Thank you both for taking the time to answer my question!

 

 

The brain teasers were of the crayon variety.

 

 

 

 

 

We will pick it up early tomorrow morning as we sail toward the island.

 

TCD

I can't beleive I got two of the brain teasers before my dh!!  That is the highlight of my week!!  He got the third one and I didn't, so it balances out.

 

For those who don't know, when TCD says he will pick it up early tomorrow, he means that sometime Monday, he will pick up the story with early morning the next day of the cruise.  Which means this thread is open for hijacks all weekend!  LOL

 

I don't know if I could stay on the ship at Nassua, just because I love to have my hair braided in corn rows.  When I went for my pre-Y2K cruise, I left the braids in for 5 weeks.  I would have kept them longer, but my church choir director begged me to take them out before our Christmas Cantata concert.  This was before I wore a headcovering and she thought it would look to odd.  It did take me about an hour to undo all those braids.

[Beckers 1,136]

I love the lighthouse photos! Family looks great dressed up!

Chipmunks in their Sunday best is adorable!

What is up with the white shoes?!? All he needs is a rolled up cowboy hat and he would be hot!

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

I agree pictures(memories) like that do make it all worthwhile.

[Momoffive aka Loretta 34]

I am so late to the party here.  It has taken me 3 days to reach this point and I am loving every post.  Chickened out of a cruise for our anniversary trip this year and reading this makes me second guess that decision.  Maybe I won't chicken out for our 25th. Again your girls are lovely, always so happy!  Beautiful family!

 

I have to agree, it has been many years since I was in Nassau.  I wouldn't compare it to Camden but it certainly is a place one wouldn't miss.

Looking forward to more!

[HappyRedhead......Betsy 16]

Thanks for the update! I've been to Nassau once and that day I decided if we ever cruised there again we would NOT get off the ship. We pulled the boys out of school for that trip because we had a very small window when we could travel with my dad so we took the "Historical" tour to do something educational. We spent the next 4 hours riding around in a hot bus waving at the drivers friends and hearing him say "This is how we do the ghetto on Nassau". There were 2 interesting stops, but I have never been so glad to get back on a ship!

I totally understand why you are willing to spend the money.....smiles like that are priceless.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Chickened out of a cruise for our anniversary trip this year and reading this makes me second guess that decision.

 

Loretta, have lunch with Chris and me.  We'll talk you into cruising!

[lglblonde 2]

Brand new around here, but loving this TR!!  Disney cruise is definitely on the bucket list!  Maybe 2014!! 

 

I get the Nassua-dislike but I have to tell you, we did a 5 nt Carnival Fantasy out of Charleston in March.  Nassau & Freeport are the only ports.  In Nassau, we caught a jitney to the Sandals and paid for a daypass. We had full access to restaurants/bars/pools, free food, drinks, etc.  We had a fantastic day.  They have a private island that is quite nice w/ its own pool/hot tub/restaurant/beach.  You take a small boat to get there.  Back on the mainland there are two other pools.  One is heated/music playing, the other is not, and it's the quiet pool.  Swim up bars, etc.  Seriously, Freeport was a downer compared to our day in Nassau at Sandals!  It's for couples only, but it was a great way to spend the day! 

[Beckers 1,136]

Okay people its the weekend and we haven't hijacked this yet?!? What gives?!?

[alexwyattmommy 181]

We are being respectful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

:rofl2:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

We are being respectful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

:rofl2:

 

are your pants on fire?

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Okay people its the weekend and we haven't hijacked this yet?!? What gives?!?

 

Shouldn't that be a mutiny? Being a cruise trip report and all?

[alexwyattmommy 181]

It's like a sauna in here.

 

 

 

 

No más pantalones

[Beckers 1,136]

Shouldn't that be a mutiny? Being a cruise trip report and all?

Walk the plank! Walk the plank!!

[Starbuc71 162]

When you eat at the fancy dining places and get the "chef" inspired plates like the steak or dessert trio, can you get seconds, thirds or tenths?

[devores 382]

I almost overlooked this TR thinking it was an older one.

 

A couple of comments.

 

The moms changing kids outfits between princesses is not just a DCL thing. They do it at WDW all the time too. Its awkward to look over and tell the little girl it her turn to meet Cinderella only to find they are half dressed and the mom frantically trying to find the proper dress in the duffel bag they schlepped through the park like a Sherpa.

 

Two of our 4 cruises we disembarked at Nassau. The first was just to see the sights and experience it. The second was the first time my girls cruised with us. We were off the ship for an hour before they asked to return to the ship. They felt really uncomfortable.

 

Sometime in the future, Photopass will be available on the ships and the DW and I have discussed doing a contract or two when it does. It would be fun to work.