Disney Dream Review

Beware the creeps and thugs on these ships

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Disney Dream
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ThePac
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Aug 2016
Cabin: Concierge Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah
Traveled with children

Bottom line: Too many people, too many lowlifes, and the rooms/food just aren't worth the money they are charging. Like most other things, it doesn't live up to the hype.

Booked a 4 day cruise on the Dream to celebrate my Daughter's 5th birthday. I reserved a stateroom with a verandah that slept 5. Initial embarkation process was poor. Everyone is squeezed into a cruise terminal that is far too small for the number of people it is housing. When all the passengers have arrived it is more or less standing room only. As with all Disney experiences, your cruise starts with a wait in lines. First there's the line to get through the metal detector. Then you get int the line to check in and get your room key. It is set up like an airline checkin counter, but at least this one line did move along relatively quickly for once. After that, you wait. Probably without a seat. Or you can wait in more lines. Lines to snap a photo with the one or two characters they have out. Or a line to see the model of the cruise chip. Or the lines to register your kids for activites. That's all there is to do. There are no food, drinks save a couple of vending machines. Eventually boarding commences, but things don't really get much better. Boarding starts around 1:30, but nothing except the cafeteria is open, and those seats go fast. You can't even get into the stateroom for a couple of hours. Our kids got tired and cranky with little to do but wait. Finally, the rooms were ready. We entered our room on deck 9 and began to unpack. As the ship left port, my wife stepped on the verandah. It reeked of cigarette smoke. She heard a loud pop and a cork flew into the water. Two of the members of my family have asthma and cannot inhale secondhand smoke for very long without needing a rescue inhaler. So essentially the balcony we paid thousands of dollars for was unusable. Every single time over the next 24 hours we went outside the smoke was there. Our neighbor became hostile when we finally mentioned between ourselves that we consistently smelled smoke. He yelled repeatedly that it was permitted and that we couldn't read the signs. Smoking has been prohibited on DCL for years inside staterooms and on verandahs. I complained to the guest services, and they told him to stop or be fined. The next time we set foot on our balcony, he placed his head through the partition and physically threatened me and my family whilst I was holding my baby. At this point we had to be moved to another stateroom to ensure our safety. They told us our new room was the best they could do. It was a downgrade from our first room in that it was on a lower deck and had one less bed. We made due with that by 3 of us sharing the king bed. The worst part though was that the bathroom reeked of sewage. It looked clean enough, but the smell was awful. I complained about the bathroom to guest services, but they said that no more rooms with a verandah were available. I have no idea if that was true or not. Meanwhile, I'm sure our trashy neighbor got a stern talking to and then and enjoyed the rest of his trip without any pesky neighbors. It is important to note that he was a repeat cruiser. I know this because of the "welcome back" sign they post on the door of castaway club members. I'm sure that Disney will be more than happy to take his money next time, too. Maybe he'll be on your cruise.

After that our trip was pretty much ruined. The wife and kids were afraid of being attacked by a stranger the rest of the voyage. They were nervous about going onshore for fear of running into him. Who knows if he smuggled any weapons on board? It was just hard to enjoy anything when you have to watch your back everywhere you go.

Cabin Review

Concierge Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah

Port Reviews

Nassau

Nassau wasn't too bad, but with small children I couldn't go out exploring very far, and the shops near the harbor didn't interest me. There were a lot of jewelry shops where you can buy expensive watches and jewels at a discount. Who knows if they're legit or not though. There were lots of liquor shops and cigar stores. If you're from the US and want Cuban cigars you can buy them there. Other than that there really isn't much else to see.

Port Canaveral (Orlando)

Not much to say. It's a large building you use to enter/exit the ship. There's not much say.

Castaway Cay

Its a private island for cruise line passengers only. Lunch is served on the island, and there are a few places to buy drinks and souvenirs and drinks. You can rent bikes and snorkeling gear. The water slide that goes into the ocean is a nice touch. I thought Castaway Cay was done well.

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