My family recently returned from a 4 night Bahamian cruise on the Disney Dream. This was our kids’ first time cruising and they loved it. My husband and I have cruised before but it was our first time sailing with Disney Cruise Lines.
The Dream accomodates 4000 guests along with over 1400 Crew Members although I will admit being on a boat that size it was hard to tell there were so many people on board. I will be sharing a lot about our cruise in the next few weeks so don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Here are 10 Reasons to Sail the Disney Dream
1. Palo and Remy
The Disney Dream has 2 adult only restaurants – Palo and Remy. Since our cruise was a relatively short one my husband and I chose the brunch at Palo.
While the food on the Disney Dream was good, our brunch at Palo was amazing. The food, the ambience and recommendations made by our server made it our favourite meal of the cruise. At an extra $20 per person, we thought it was worth it.
2. Entertainment
While the Disney Dream doesn’t have a casino, there plenty of entertainment options at night. Comedy shows, 3D movies playing in the theatre and stage shows that were in my opinion like shows I pay top dollar for to see on Broadway.
Villains Tonight and Disney’s Believe are two of those Broadway like shows that cruisers on the Disney Dream will love. Presented in the Walt Disney Theatre, there is seating for over 1300 guests! If you miss the live performance, you can catch them on TV from the comfort of your stateroom.
3. Character Meets
What would a Disney cruise be without character meets.
Princesses, Classic Characters (Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Pluto, Goofy), Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, Jack Sparrow and Smee, and Chip and Dale were some of the characters we “met” during our 5 day cruise.
You can also meet some of your favourite Disney characters and take photos with them on Castaway Cay.
4. Bathtub in most staterooms
This is one of the things that worried me the most about cruising with little ones. My husband and I aren’t able to stand in the shower with our kids (they are just very wriggly kids) and have often travelled with one of those inflatable baby bath tubs.
We loved that most staterooms had tubs (we were in an inside stateroom and we had one) – not big like a standard bathtub but good enough for young children.
5. Oceanview for Everyone
We booked two inside staterooms for our family and were delighted to experience the “Magical Porthole” (a real time view of what’s happening outside).
Our kids loved seeing characters float across the screen and we felt it made our room brighter since inside staterooms don’t get any natural light.
6. Kid’s Clubs
Disney Cruise Lines sets the bar high for kids clubs. Children are grouped according to their age. There’s a nursery for 3 and under, a play space for 3-10 year olds and activities and hangout spaces for those 10-13 and 14-17 years old.
7. Nemo’s Reef
You don’t find water play areas for non toilet trained kids often on cruise ships. Nemo’s Reef is a splash pad area for younger children.
Our 4 year old daughter preferred the pool over Nemo’s Reef but our 1 year old loved it. So much so that he was kicking and screaming when we said it was “home time”.
8. Plenty of Wipes
Sanitizing hand wipes are handed out by crew members outside of every restaraunt including the buffet at the Cabanas. Love that they are thinking about everyone’s health and safety. Being on board with that many people for several days – it’s easy for germs to spread quickly.
9. AquaDuck
The very first “water coaster” at sea. More like an enclosed water slide – the AquaDuck is a must do for anyone sailing on the Disney Dream. Part of the slide hangs over the side of the ship and it’s pretty scary looking down seeing just water.
I’m afraid of heights but I still loved the AquaDuck.
We weren’t able to go on the AquaDuck at night but from our conversations with other cruisers it is a totally different experience – the slide is lit up.
10. Wave Phones
Two Wave Phones are provided in each state room. They are meant to keep you in contact with other members of your party should you be at different locations on the ship.
It came in really handy when one child wanted to line up to meet characters and the other wanted to eat!
You’re able to leave voice messages and text messages and they even work on Disney’s private island Castaway Cay. We even took it to Palo!
There’s so many reasons to sail on the Disney Dream. I will highlight some more soon.
Like how I started and ended this with food pictures? Can you tell our travels centre around food?
All great reasons to go on the Dream. We were on the Magic a few years ago on a 4 day cruise. I love seeing the differences on the ships although the Dream is a step above. We’ve sailed different ships over the years and the Disney cruise is still my kids’ favorite. We really want to go on the Dream just to go on the AquaDuck. 🙂 Yum on the food!
Next year we are sailing on the Wonder so I think it is the same as the Magic or at least similar. Hoping it is just as good – I think it will be because Disney really pays attention to the details.
AquaDuck is a lot of fun and I would have gone more than once had the line not been so long all the time. 🙂
Have you gone on the Disney Wonder yet? We are going on the Wonder to Alaska next month! Just wondering what your thoughts are, is it the same great experience, I know the Wonder is an older ship.
Hi Debbi,
Actually we will be sailing on the Disney Wonder later this year (after you it looks like) so unfortunately I would be able to give you my thoughts about it before your cruise. Disney cruises in general (from my research) are a ton of fun and the organization of the crew and the activities on board are top notch.
Have fun on the Wonder! I’d love to hear what you thought of the Wonder.
Cheryl
Cheryl, our cruise was amazing, as expected. Enjoy your cruise on the Wonder!
PS I blogged about our trip and linked to your post on what to pack 🙂
I love pics of food and I love the idea of a magic porthole. Can’t wait to hear morre-we’ve never cruised!
Oh the porthole really did make our room feel larger and brighter! I would highly recommend cruising with little ones, Terumi. I think your boys would love it.
Great post with great pics. Disney has perfected the customer experience and you can definitely see that on their cruise line. The best part is that it is great for kids, but the parents don’t feel so left out either.
I agree with you 100% Marian. I think Disney has perfected the experience for many travelers – including cruisers. I was hesitant at first because I thought adults in our travel group wouldn’t enjoy it that much but we all loved it!
I’ve never really been interested in taking a cruise…I prefer to be right in the middle of the action at my vacation destination. However, if I ever did take one I think this one would be it!! I could just imagine how much the kids would enjoy it 😉
I think I prefer cruising because it is very relaxing. My husband especially enjoys it because he doesn’t like to be right in the middle of the action during his travels. HAHAHA…. NYC is not at the top of his “To Visit” list.
The kids would love it! It is a very family friendly cruise line.
Sounds like you had a great experience. At this point, I’m not sure how much/if my older kids would enjoy a Disney cruise, but my husband have already decided that if budget allows, we definitely want to take our grandchildren when/if we have them.
Can’t wait to hear more and see more pics from your trip!
We had an amazing time Tonya!
I tend to agree that Disney cruises are probably tailored to younger kids. I didn’t see as many teens as I did elementary school aged children on our cruise.
I’m sure your future grandchildren would love that! We traveled with my inlaws and our kids (and my husband and I) loved having grandma and grandpa next door. We would send them over every morning at 8am. An extra hour of sleep for us each morning. LOL!
It sounds amazinggggg
This would be a dream trip, my boys (and hubby and I) would love, love, love to do this, thanks for sharing your experience!
It was very memorable for all of us. You guys will love it Stacey!
I like that everyone has ocean view and there is no casino!! (You cannot go into casinos with kids!!)
That is true. You can’t go with them. And it probably is a good thing too as you come off the ship with more money in your wallet! LOL
What a great trip! I can’t believe a boat can float with that many people! Very intimidating! I want to take my kids to Disney!! One day soon I hope!
Yes the boat was massive! Maybe the biggest I have been on so far.
Love the idea of the magical porthole! Too cute! We haven’t tried a cruise before but when we do it will be a Disney one for sure!
The magical porthole really made it feel like an outside room although I think those ones have much larger windows. Disney is great for cruising especially for families with children
wonderful way to have a vacation looks like lots of fun
It was! Have you cruised before?
WOW Cheryl your adventure sounds so dreamy! The food looks so yummy! Off to dream land I go….
The food was delicious! Our most memorable meal was at Palo. Maybe because the kids weren’t there? 😉
I love their slider. Do they allow adults on that one? That looks awesome.
looks like an amazing experience. i’d do it in a heartbeat!
My son is 3 years old and would absolutely love this! Personally, I’m excited to try the food… looks like they have some delicious options!
I was literally JUST talking with a friend who got home from a cruise alst week that we should do a disney cruise with the kids but was wondering how it was different.
It’s VERY much catered to families with young kids. Programs for every age group and the staff is amazing. You should definitely consider it Janel.
Is it wrong that we have no kids, but I still want to go on a Disney cruise? lol They look like so much fun!!!
Not at all Jennifer! If I had known about how good a Disney cruise was before having kids I’d probably have booked one too for myself. HA!
I would love, love to go!! How can you go wrong with Disney?
I’ve never actually been on a cruise. I’ve thought about it in the past but I’m afraid I’d wind up with motion sickness and not enjoy it. It looks like a lot of fun though!
It’s not so bad if you go on big ships Dee. You hardly feel the movement although it also depends on the time of year you cruise (rockier water certain times of the year when porting)
All very good reasons! I hope to cruise on this ship myself one day. Disney always does it best!
They are very detail oriented, Angela 🙂
I haven’t been on a Disney cruise yet. I always thought that my kids were too old – but I think we should give it a try!
You’re never too old for Disney! Lots of cool stuff for tweens and teens to do on the ships as well – they have their own hangout area/club.
You must have read my mind… me and hubs were just talking about this today!
That looks like SO much fun! I want to go on the AquaDuck!