Wes Sauer of the DCL Dude Podcast, recently went on a 3-Night Bahamian Cruise on the Disney Dream. He originally posted this on his Facebook page, but was kind enough to let us repost it here! Wes and his wife are also Disney travel agents who specialize in Disney cruises. If you’d like a free, no obligation quote, send Wes an email at wes@mickeyworldtravel.com.
You can listen to his trip report here:
Day 2 started out unlike any other vacation we’ve taken over the last 6 years…in silence. No 6:00 am wake up calls from tiny humans. It felt quite strange. As hard as I tried to sleep in, my kids have my body conditioned for these early morning wake-ups, so I was wide awake around 6:45. I got up and started moving around the stateroom, being careful not to wake up my wife. I headed out on the verandah while we sailed into the Nassau port channel and Captain Andy flipped the ship around and backed her into her berth. My wife would inform me later that I made a lot of noise and didn’t allow her to sleep in as much as she would have liked. Whoops!
We also began the day with another first – a morning workout! My wife headed off to the gym to use the elliptical while headed down to deck 4 to get in a run. If I weren’t training for a half marathon in February, you would NEVER catch me working out on vacation! I made it four laps around before my run got cut short due to a “safety training”. They were, in fact, doing some power washing, but I guess they don’t have a sign for that.
This trip was much about trying new (to us) things, so I headed up to the Vista Café to grab an iced coffee. In my opinion, the free coffee on the Disney Cruise Line is almost undrinkable and I’ve been meaning to try something from one of the cafes onboard. As I read through the menu, I was disappointed to see that there was no iced coffee option, but the barista gladly offered to make me one. He stamped my coffee card and I headed back to the stateroom to meet back up with Alyssa. As I took my first sip, I wondered why I have spent so much time sucking down that other poison they call coffee. It was excellent!
Once cleaned up, it was off to Cabanas for breakfast.
The weather was exactly what we were hoping for – sunny and hot – and we spent the rest of the morning doing exactly what we wanted to do on this trip…NOTHING. We spent time going back and forth between reading on lounge chairs and relaxing in the Satellite Falls fountain in the adults-only area on Deck 13 Forward.
The next activity was something I had really been looking forward to. I wanted to watch a movie on funnel vision, and it worked out perfectly that Tangled would be playing! Normally we can catch clips of the movies while the kids are splashing in the pool, but that usually doesn’t last very long. I wanted to actually
watch the movie. Before it started, though, we waited in the “45 minute” line for the Aquaduck, which extended all the way down to the bottom of the stairs. I timed it on my watch and it ended up being closer to 30 minutes, but still a long time for a day in port. Worth it, though!
After the movie, it was off to another “first” for us – I pre-ordered single-day Rainforest passes in the Senses Spa. My wife and I were joking leading up to it that we had NO idea what to do in there (and I would probably tell you that we still don’t). When you check in, they put a sticker on your Key to the World card indicating that you can come and go throughout the day as you please. They give you a robe and then escort you to the Rainforest area and to the locker rooms to change. You also get a rubber wrist band that will unlock the door to the Rainforest room. I didn’t take pictures inside because I wasn’t sure if that would be allowed. The first area that you come to are the themed showers. Each shower has different settings and the spray is different depending on which option you choose. Each shower had three different options, and I thought it was a pretty cool experience. My wife did not enjoy it as much because most of the options had cold water. Near the showers there were two types of steam rooms and a more traditional sauna. We spent about 3 minutes in one of the steam rooms and my wife said the other one smelled like wet socks.
Around the corner was a long room with a dozen or so hot stone loungers and through a set of glass doors there were two jacuzzi tubs that were double occupancy. The jacuzzi tubs were situated on what I would describe as being similar to an open-air verandah and looked out over the side of the ship. Both tubs were occupied, so we spent some time on the hot stone loungers, which I really enjoyed. I was wishing I had my book, but I didn’t want to go out and get it. Once a jacuzzi freed up, we climbed in and spent 15-20 minutes in total relaxation. After that, we left the spa and didn’t return, but we both commented that we felt very relaxed afterward. We enjoyed the experience, but I can’t say for sure if we would do it again. We’re not really spa people.
After the spa, I wanted to go ashore just to say I did. I was off and back on in less than an hour and then it was back to our verandah for some more reading and intermittent napping before our dinner at Palo.
One of the best perks about being a Platinum Castaway Club member is the complimentary dinner in Palo. We haven’t taken advantage of this perk in the past because we haven’t wanted to leave our kids in the kids clubs while we eat, so it was really nice to be able to enjoy the experience.
I wish I had taken a picture of the menu because I can’t remember exactly what each of our courses were called. I ordered the tomato, basil, and mozzarella appetizer (which I will order EVERY time it is available on a menu), and my wife had an arugula and pear salad. I had the scallops entrée, which might have been one of the best meals I’ve ever had. It was fantastic. My wife ordered the butternut squash ravioli, which she will also order any time she sees it on a menu. She very much enjoyed it, as well. For Dessert, our waiter, Katia, basically
told us we were having the soufflé because it’s their signature dessert. She said she was making one for each of us and if we still wanted to look at the dessert menu afterward, we could. Turns out she was not wrong and we both devoured the soufflés. We were too full afterward to think about eating anything else.
Another thing we were REALLY excited for on this trip was the performance of Beauty and the Beast in the Walt Disney Theater. The show debuted two weeks after our last sailing on the Dream, so we barely missed out. And let me tell you, the show DID NOT disappoint. It was fantastic! We were in awe the entire time of the costumes, the effects, the puppets, the set…everything about it. I would say it’s easily the best show offered on Disney Cruise Line.
On embarkation day, we visited White Caps and noticed that many of the items in the store were on clearance. What luck! We found a few things we liked and vowed to be back to take advantage of the sales. Turns out there was a reason for it – White Caps transformed overnight into a Christmas shoppe, complete with new Very Merrytime merchandise. I’m not going to post all the merchandise pictures, but you can head over to my
Twitter account to see them.
It was pirate night, so we headed up to deck 12 to catch the fireworks. We watched from the other side of the forward funnel where it was much quieter. We could still hear the stage performance and the music, but it was much more muffled. As always, the fireworks show did not disappoint – one of my favorite experiences at sea.
After that, we called it a night. We wanted to be well-rested for our day in Castaway Cay.
Full Trip Report – Boarding | Nassau | Castaway Cay
The DCL Dude Podcast is a show dedicated to all things Disney Cruise Line! They talk recent DCL news, share travel tips, interview guests, go over the best and worst (ok, mostly best) that DCL has to offer, share trip reports, and hopefully interact with their listeners! read more
