Disney Cruise 2011-Good/Bad

Embarkation~ Disney takes its check-in time VERY seriously. Don't arrive earlier expecting to be allowed onboard early.

Pool~save chairs immediately after breakfast because they do not have enough deck chairs for all the guests.

Breakfast~If you want made-to-order eggs like omelets etc. you need to have breakfast in the Royal Palace, the Enchanted Garden is buffet.

Our cabin service sucked big time, Our room was never cleaned until AFTER supper.

Disney allows and even encourages you to take your own pictures, the photographers will even take them for you with your own camera!

Disney includes two "wave phones" that allow you to be in constant touch with the childcare,each other, staterooms, even works on Castaway Cay beach.

Nickelodeon 2011-Good/Bad

While the resort was great for Paige (age 6), the two 12 year olds were really too old for most of the characters. I would not recommend this one for children older than 11.

The food at the breakfast buffet was good. It ended up costing us $80 for two adults and three children. While this is nice for a one time "novelty", It was costly. Grocery shopping worked out great for us, keeping our food bill reasonable.

Be prepared to be nickel and dimed for every extra. While I was prepared to pay for meals, I thought everything was all inclusive as far as the shows and entertainment, its not!

Nickelodeon 2011-Day 3

This morning we booked a character breakfast.  It included a buffet and the food was really good.  The breakfast show included, Sponge Bob, Dora and others.

After breakfast we headed for a day of swimming at the pool.  We really enjoyed the entertainment provided and the girls had a great time.

We decided to head out for supper tonight and truly enjoyed it.  Afterwards we headed home to pack again for the ride home.

Nickelodeon 2011-Day 2

We ate breakfast in our room. Hubby brought the kids to use the pool. We were running low on clothing, so I headed to the guest laundry.

The day was spent at the pool, Paige and Hubby participated in their sliming program. I encourage anyone who goes here to particpate, it really is fun. We ate a late lunch in our hotel room.

Later in the evening, we brought the girls to the arcade and we saw two more 4D shows.

We ate burgers dinner in the Cafe in the hotel mall before heading back to the room.

Nickelodeon 2011-Day 1

We arrived at the resort around 10:30 in the rain. Our hopes of being able to check-in early were quickly squashed. We made the best of it, parked, locked up and then went on a self-guided tour of the grounds. While the pool was open, it was too cold and still raining, so we headed into their "mall".

We bought bracelets for their 4D theatre, it allows unlimited visits to all the shows. The first one we saw was Speed Racer, it was cool. Along with the 3D glasses, the seats moved, air blowed and we were even slimed. We saw two shows and we were finally allowed to checkin. We booked the Sponge Bob Suite, which included two bedrooms and a sofa sleeper. It had a small kitchen with sink, microwave and dining table.

Finally, the rain cleared and sun came out. The pool was heated so the kids saw and enjoyed the slides while Hubby picked up groceries nearby. We prepared and ate dinner in our room and the girls fell asleep early of exhuastion.

Disney Dream 2011-Disembarkation

Our final morning we had breakfast in the Enchanted Garden Dining Room @ 8:45am.

After breakfast we were directed to gangplank.

Gratefully Disembarkation was a breeze, nothing like our embarkation. We quickly passed through customs with little delay and were directed to the terminal parking lot. We loaded our bags and were on our way in no time.

Disney Dream 2011-Day 4

Our last day aboard the Disney Dream was a sea day.  A wonderfully relaxing day to sit back and enjoy all that this wonderful ship has to offer.  The highlight of this last day was the "Meeting of the Disney Princesses".  It was very a magical day  for our girls.  The princesses entry is announced and they each climb down the huge stairway to royal music.  Afterwards the girls were able to speak with each one, collect autographs and take photos. 

Keeping our day relaxed we decided to have lunch at the buffet.   Afterwards, we enjoyed a Disney show which included a flying Peter Pan and even Tinkerbell. 

Later in the evening the kids swam in the deck pool while watching Dumbo on the big screen.


 Finally we headed back to cabin to pack before dinner. 

Dinner was in the Enchanted Gardens again tonight and we sadly said goodbyes to newfound friends and our waiters.

Disney Dream 2011-Day 3

This is the much anticipated beach day at Disney's private Island Castaway Cay. We watched as our ship slowed and prepared to dock. The Island is breathtaking!

After a relaxing breakfast in the Enchanted Gardens dining room, we packed a bag and headed out to the beach. The ship offered trams to bring us to the beach, the girls couldn't resist a ride on the "train".

We decided to forego any excursions, instead just enjoyed the beach. I rented two rafts and two tubes for $6 each and bought Paige a bucket $7. Thats it, thats what our day in paradise cost us. We found a couple of lounge chairs to keep our belongings and headed to the water. The water was a little cool but beautifully clean and we soon became comfortable in it. We spent a couple hours just splashing and playing in the water with the girls.

Our Girls enjoying ice cream cones in he sun

Paige soon directed her attention towards finding seashells with her bucket and shovel. Soon we were all helping her find treasured shells. Hubby bought me a chocolatey rum drink that was delish!
Lunch was served at 11:30 and the Disney BBQ is included with our cruise. Our choices included chicken, ribs, burgers, hot dogs, corn on cobb, cole slaw, chips, cookies, cake and fresh fruit.

I think Disney lost money with my Hubby lol

After lunch we decided to go back to the ship early and take advantage of the "less crowded" pool and slide.

After lunch we decided to go back to the ship early and take advantage of the "less crowded" pool and slide.

Center Fountain-Enchanted Gardens

Tonight we dined in the Enchanted Gardens Dining room. It is quite beautiful with tulip chandeliers that open during the day and then close at night. The dining room has flowered backed chairs and gives the feel of eating in a patio garden.

At night was the Pirates of the Caribbean party. Pirate gear was distributed to guests and the deck was setup for various children's games. Fruity drinks were served in glowing glasses. There were fireworks later that night, but our Paige just couldn't keep awake to watch it. The party was a fitting end to our magical day at the beach.

The girls practically fell into bed of exhaustion.

Disney Dream 2011-Day 2

Today we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas. We choose to forego this port and enjoy a less crowded ship.

We enjoyed a breakfast buffet in the Enchanted Garden Dining Room. It was good but would have preferred maid-to-order eggs.

We took our first ride on the new Aqua-Duck. All 3 girls really enjoyed it and repeated rides throughout the day alternating with swimming in the pools.

The weather was a little cool today so later in the day as we found the gorgeous hot tubs. The outside walls and bottoms were clear, giving way to breathtaking views as we relaxed in the warm water.

After showering, we left in search of Character sightings so the girls could collect photos & autographs for their books. They were not disappointed.

The entertainment tonight was Villains Tonight! It included evil villains from various Disney stories. Our favorites were Pain & Panic, they stole the show IMHO.

Dinner was in the Animator's Palate, our girl's favorite. We were treated to interactive Nemo characters as pictures come to life along the walls.

Dinner was in the Animator's Palate, our girl's favorite. We were treated to interactive Nemo characters as pictures come to life along the walls.

After dinner we were still in Nassau, so we left the ship to walk along the pier to get some pictures of the ship at night~

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Disney Dream 2011-(post embarkation)

We ate lunch at the buffet, we were starving so they could have served BBQ shoe and would have been tasty to us! There were no food complaints.

After lunch we checked out our home for the next 4 days. We booked the Family Balcony with private verandahs. It included a full bed, a convertible sofa (twin). Two pull- down single beds. A split bath, toilet/sink, tub/shower/sink, very nice. One LCD TV, frig & desk.

After the sail away party, we showered and checked out the ship.

We attended our first performance called the Golden Mickey's and it was great. Let me say here that there were NO bad shows, every performance was good.

Our first Dining Experience was in The Palace Dining Room. It is beautifully decorated including glass slippers on the ceiling.

Disney Dream 2011-Embarkation

Ugh, where to start.... We have traveled with three other cruise ship companies prior to this Disney Cruise. Each one allows you to board early in order of arrival. Disney, we discovered, is serious about their boarding times. We arrived @ 10:30a, Disney assigned us 1:30pm, we sat around until they finally let us board approximately 2:00pm. It was horrible. Another difference about Disney, they allowed past guests to board earlier than us regardless of their arrival time. Not Cool Disney!

Our Granddaughters hadn't eaten since breakfast, we had no snacks or drink for them, they were starving by the time we boarded and headed to the lunch buffet.

Note to self: don't arrive early for a Disney Cruise!


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Quality Suites - Cocoa Beach (Pre-Cruise)

I wish I had taken photos to go with this review because it was just so bad! I guess you get what you pay for, we picked this hotel because the low price saved us enough money to allow us to park at the cruise terminal.

First the parking, you have to fight the Taco Bell customers for a parking spot because the hotel does not enforce parking.

Check-in was a breeze. There is one elevator that everyone has to use and it is the slowest I have ever ridden.

The Room~When we opened up the door we were hit with a musty smell. True to advertising, there was a king size bed with a sofa sleeper. However, the sofa sleeper was falling apart, the mattress fell through a huge hole in the springs. The sofa and chair cushions were full of stains, we were leery of sitting on them.
The carpet had huge stains. My six year old found a pill left on the floor, so I seriously doubt if it was vacuumed since the previous guests.

The breakfast~ typical continental breakfast. Cereals, milk, yogurt, bagels, juice and coffee.

It is within walking distance of the beach, about two blocks. Again, I guess we got what we paid for, but I think that not matter what price you pay for a room, you should have an expectation of cleanliness.

Disney Dream 2011-(Pre-cruise)

We left on our roadtrip @ 4:00am. We packed everything into the car the night before so all we had to do was load up our girls and go. We stopped for breakfast @ Cracker Barrell in Niceville Florida 8:30am.

We arrived at our hotel in Cocoa Beach around 4:00pm. After checking into our room, we decided to walk along the beach.







What a treat when we were able to witness a Secret Space Launch !





Sunday morning we ate breakfast provided by the hotel and headed to the cruiseship terminal around 10:30am.









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