Disney Dreaming

My thorough review of our first Disney Cruise on the Disney Dream, very lengthy LOL (I took over 600 pictures, but I promise I will not post them all

This was our first ever cruise. Family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children). We traveled during Christmas time so I don't think it would be very helpful if I give you a price because prices will vary depending on when you travel, how many guests, how many days and which stateroom you choose.

We decided to go a day early and stay overnight in Port Canaveral, spent some time at Cocoa Beach, did some shopping, had breakfast, lunch and dinner, slept and the next morning (day of cruise) while having breakfast is when my 6 year old received her call from Mickey & Minnie (you can schedule a character call, you pick the date and time) , although the call didn’t go as expected she was still very excited. I’ll have to post that video later. We stayed at LaQuinta which was only about 6-7 miles from the port, hotel was a little dated, it was only one night but I don’t think I would stay there again.

Embarkation: Not too bad, very well organized and we didn’t feel like we were waiting around too long, it gave us time to look around the port (not much to see) take some pictures, and get my daughters magic band for youth activities, our Port arrival time was 10:45am, I picked an early arrival time just to give us time to explore the ship while it wasn’t very crowded, we had lunch and it left us plenty of time before the mandatory safety drill that started around 4 pm. (Note: Passports are not required if you are returning to the same U.S. Port you left from, but are good to have just in case there is an emergency). Also, travel insurance isn't required, but just to have a peace of mind, I would suggest you get it.

We picked the late dinner seating time which was 8:15pm each night and it worked out perfectly, we all made sure we downloaded the Disney Cruise Navigator App, that allowed us to text each other while onboard since there was no Wi-Fi, they give you 50MB for free, but you will easily use that up within 15 minutes, or you could purchase one of their plans, I didn’t feel we needed it because we wanted to disconnect from everything and just enjoy this vacation with limited interruptions.

Now let me get to my son (teenager), when he found out about the cruise he wasn’t very excited about it, and I was a little worried that he wouldn’t enjoy it, a couple of years ago we spent 7 days at Disney World and he didn’t have a great time (the only teen I know that don’t enjoy roller coasters), he spent most of his time at the resort pool than the parks. Weeks before we left for this cruise he kept asking us if he could stay with a friend while we all went without him, I wasn’t going to do that, and none of his friends parents wanted to spend the money for them to come along with us. Well, on the first night he met about 10 other teens from South Carolina and a few other states that he spent 98% percent of his time with, I told him he was free to do what he wanted onboard as long as he met us for dinner each night at 8:15pm and for the Pirate Night which is a huge event that they have on Disney cruises, he spent most of his time in “Vibe” a teen only club, us parents aren’t even allowed to go in there (I’m sure there’s ways around it, but I didn’t bother too much), so I didn’t get many pictures of the inside, I was able to get a picture of the teen private pool and lounge area, and of course he didn’t take many pics which was expected LOL, let's just say he didn't return to our room until about 2-4am each morning, he was having the time of his life.

Everything was smooth sailing. We were in stateroom 2044 which was Midship on the 2nd deck, I selected an ocean view room that had a huge port hole and an amazing view, thought about getting a room with a verandah but I didn’t think we needed it since we didn’t spend much time in our room. We were just steps away from the Enchanted Garden restaurant and very close to elevators (we did not hear lots of noise at all). Our room was mostly used for sleeping, shower and to change clothes, Room was spacious by ship s