In general I think Disney does a terrific job of embarkation and disembarkation compared to other cruise lines I’ve experienced. There is a line to stand in to get your initial embarkation “ticket”, and the woman who served us was a bit of an idiot, including writing the wrong stateroom numbers on our boarding passes, but otherwise it was smooth. The only other thing which was TERRIBLY annoying at embarkation is that they don’t tell you you cannot bring any food on board so the many $$ of snacks we had with us were all thrown away. Disembarkation was similarly smooth except at Disney Cay because our arrival was so delayed that there were huge crowds waiting to get off and it was a long time before they got things organized and started letting people off. The staterooms are very spacious and well appointed. Only two annoyances - first, we had side by side staterooms and wanted the decks to be left adjoining but regardless of repeated requests it never happened; also, one day when I was relaxing and reading on my deck they were washing the deck above me and soaked me with dirty water - not cool! It was very annoying that they never seemed to announce time changes which caused us a great deal of confusion as we changed time zones several times during the cruise - in general I felt communication during the cruise was lacking. The everything free except alcohol isn’t really true. For example, I like to drink plain soda water - only available at bars and not free - really??? Also there is an ice cream and candy store where everything costs money, as does popcorn at movies and shows. That said, the food generally was fabulous - above average for cruise food - and constantly available with good service. The teen club was a lot of fun for our two teens. I thought the kids club was absolutely fabulous but my six year old didn’t really like it as they didn’t have as high a counselor to child ratio as she has experienced in other vacation situations. I think if you have a child who is more outgoing and curious they would really have a fabulous time. The two shows we saw - Aladdin and Frozen were spectacular with amazing performers. The app is very helpful and we all used it and the free chat it enables throughout the cruise. A great choice for family cruising. Read Less

My husband and I have been on cruises before (Carnival, Holland). Our kids had not cruised before. Had heard so much about Disney cruises. Wanted to try. Booked the cruise just 6 weeks before sailing. This is the first year Disney has sailed out of New Orleans and initially the cruises had filled up. Then I heard rooms had opened up, and the timing worked out for us, so we did it. Great decision. Gorgeous ship. Outstanding service, as one would expect from Disney. Kids loved it so much they sobbed the last night. A 5th night would have been nice, but it’s what we could do at this time. So many great activities for kids AND adults. Amazing shows - very high production value. Food was DELISH! Buffet was so good - super-wide selection and everything was fresh. Loved the three dining rooms - Triton’s, Animator’s Palate and Tiana’s Place (my favorite). If you are considering a Disney Cruise, do it!!! Read Less

Embarkation went very smoothly. The line was constantly moving, and a cast member gave out forms to fill out in line to cut down on waiting time (have a working pen with you). Security screening was quick (get rid of liquids, port authority won’t let you in otherwise) and I was walking on board around noon. Disney goes out of their way to welcome you by announcing you onboard into the atrium. Super awesome. The attention to detail on this ship was to be expected given the incredibly high standards of Disney. The atrium was magnificent. Parts of Disney are blatantly Mickey (which is super fun and whimsical) while other parts (especially the adults sections of the ship) were more hidden Mickey style. The Dream has three main restaurants plus two specialty restaurants (Palo and Remy). I went to Remy the first night so I missed the Enchanted Garden, but did go to EG for breakfast. The restaurants are very well themed, and I think EG was my favorite themed restaurant. It was gorgeous. Disney rotates you to a different restaurant each night so you have a chance to see all of them. Your waiters go with you, so no worries. I did not try Palo (I regret not doing that brunch) but Remy was equivalent (to me) as Victoria and Albert’s. Men are required to wear a jacket, so that should tell you there is a dress code. No jeans. Ladies must wear a dress or pant suit. The food was delicious. I did my hardest to get through all seven courses but my stomach gave up. Alas. The beef wagu was superb. The waiters were knowledgeable and explained in detail what everything was. The regular restaurant waiters were awesome! One liked to play games with us and gave us puzzles to work out while we waited for our food. We had three waiters for our table and they were very knowledgeable and had great suggestions. They also know who you are immediately. They knew my name when I showed up for dinner the second night after being a no show the first night. My jaw dropped before I could tell them my name. They also loved to heckle each other, much to me and my fellow dinner companions’ amusement. Royal Table and Animator’s Palette were also well themed and I loved the food. I only ate at their buffet, Cabanas, a couple of times, but the food had a lot of variety and was very good. Juice and soda are free (unless you go to a specialty place), as is room service, unlimited soft serve ice cream, and the hotdog/pizza/hamburger places. Pizza was very good too. Next to Cabanas is Venelope’s, which is a dedicated former sweet shop. We’re talking Willy Wonka people!!!!! The most beautiful, glorious cupcakes, fudge, chocolate covered strawberries, lollipops, cake pops, gelato (they make elaborate sundaes!)...I was definitely the kid in the candy store. They have a good variety of kid friendly movies on their “funnel vision” and kids can watch movies while swimming in the pool. I loved their Aquaduck slide. They have a movie theater that shows free, first run movies, and another HUGE theater for their broadway caliber shows. Golden Mickey’s, Beauty and the Beast and Believe are what Disney’s excels at. Please do not miss these shows. While Disney does have two dinner seatings (if adults only I suggest taking the second seating), they also play the shows twice so both seatings have a chance to see them. They have miniature golf, a sports simulator, numerous Character Meet and Greets (you have to book ahead of time for the Princess characters or you won’t get a pic of them) and all sorts of activities. I grabbed a Rainforest spa pass and loved Senses. The heated lounge chairs overlooking the water was so relaxing, and I love their variety showers. I didn’t travel with kids, but did walk through for a tour. It’s a Small World is a nursery for the three and under’s. Reserve those ahead of time if you want adult time, as that’s the one kiddy place that books full the quickest. It’s also the only one that charges you $9/hour to watch your baby. The other kids’ clubs are the Oceaneers Club (which made me really jealous of the kids that got to play there), the Edge and the Vibe. The Vibe, for teenagers, have their own pool. Adults also have their own pool, jacuzzi, decks, deck chairs (of which there was more than enough for us) specialty coffee and drink places, excursions, shipboard activities, and the District, which holds a variety of pubs, champagne areas, clubs with live music, and so much. I literally was not wanting for anything. Disney thought of everyone!!! I was not the least bit bothered by the kids on board, and I encountered no drunken brawls or obnoxious people. The staff were incredibly friendly, polite, and excellent conversationalists. They were also strict enforcers of the “adult only” sections, so you were left with peace and quiet if you wanted to stay in those areas. Castaway Cay was the highlight of the trip, and just as well themed as the ship, right down to the cute bathrooms! They also have an adults only section that had hammocks, a bike rental (which was super relaxing biking all over the island) and a dedicated place to get some fruity coolers or beer. There’s also a BBQ place. Didn’t hang out in the family side, but they also had all of that, plus some fun snorkeling places and water slides. Disembarkation went smoothly. If you wish for them to take your luggage off the ship for you, you must leave your luggage outside your door by 10pm. Make sure you remember to set aside clothes to wear off the ship the next day or you’ll be walking off in your pajamas. They issue out colored tags so finding my stuff in customs was easy (that, and I had obscenely bright Disney luggage so my eyes found it immediately). Just so you know for breakfast getting off the ship, they’ll do final breakfast based on what your dinner seating was. If you were first seating, your breakfast will be earlier. Second dinner will have breakfast after 8am. I highly advise AGAINST booking a flight before 3pm. You will be super stressed out and rushed and may have to skip breakfast, as everyone is getting off the ship and you’ll still have to get your luggage through. I had accidentally booked their bus back to the airport when in fact I was going to WDW after pulling in, but they were able to put me on one of their buses with scarcely a wait. Also, you do have the option of dressing up for Pirate Night. The ship plays pirate movies and music, the crew dress up in pirate gear, including the characters, and the guests join in the fun. I brought a costume had and had a ton of fun. There’s a pirate show followed by fireworks followed by a deck party followed by another pirate buffet. As you can see from this incredibly long review (should have done a table of contents and chapters), I was incredibly impressed by my first Disney cruise! To hear the first seven notes of “when you wish join a star” play on the ship’s horn during the Sail-a-Wave party made me teary eyed. The ship also has a variety of other musical horns, and they’ll play them either in port. If you’re fortunate, maybe you’ll be treated to a horn battle with other ships. I went for my 40th birthday. I went solo. Still loved this cruise to death. Do not let anyone tell you that this ship is only for families with kids. This is false. If you love traveling on ships with high standards, attention to detail, and are young at heart, please give Disney a look. They blew my previous cruise lines away. WOW!!!!!! I put money down for a placeholder before I even finished my cruise. Read Less

This was a seven-night Star Wars Day at Sea cruise sailing the western Caribbean. While the cruise was fun with lots of activities on board for children and adults, it was spoiled because of the terrible cabin we had, stateroom 2018 on deck 2 midship. The cruise had a few nights with rough seas, and we couldn't sleep because of a loud banging noise coming from the deck below. Although Guest Services and Housekeeping were sympathetic, no one eliminated the noise. The last night we had to sail through a terrible storm to return to Port Canaveral. The Housekeeping manager offered us another cabin to sleep in on deck 2. The seas were so rough, it didn't help. Disney must know there is something wrong with 2018. Do yourself a favor and choose another stateroom. Star Wars activities were fun, and the entertainment staff added more activities on the day we would have been at Grand Cayman. We couldn't go to Grand Cayman, our second stop, because after we left Cozumel, our first stop, the ship had to sail back to Cozumel because a passenger had a serious medical emergency. Port charges and excursions for Grand Cayman booked through Disney were refunded. Fireworks for pirate night also were cancelled, and a brief fireworks show was scheduled for the following day. Star Wars day on Thursday, a day at sea, was fun with lots of events for kids and adults, including fireworks. My sister's stateroom on deck 7 lost power the last night of the cruise, and Guest Services attitude was "oh well." My brother-in-law had to stay up all night because he couldn't plug in his cpap machine that helps him breathe at night. No one could sleep anyway because of the rough seas. It was the roughest sail we've ever had. Debarkation the final morning was chaos, with lines winding all over deck 3. It took us almost one hour to get off the ship and clear customs. No explanation from Disney crew members on why it took so long. Only two crew members were scanning passengers off the ship, and only two Customs agents were working. 3,700 passengers were on this cruise. Epic fail by Disney. Read Less

We chose this cruise to celebrate my granddaughter’s 10th birthday. Since she has enjoyed visiting Disney World in the past we felt this cruise would also be special & give her memories to treasure. I must say that the cruise staff was friendly & helpful. Staterooms were larger, clean & comfortable. Food was equivalent to other cruise lines. Activities were numerous but not truly family orientated. Most activities were held in the Oceaneer Club were children participated with other children & in my opinion, were geared for children less then 8. The club actually reminded me of a locked ward. You could bring your child there early in the morning & leave them there until late in the evening if you wanted to. I witnessed many parents do exactly that-lock their child in claiming safety & then they would go off & do whatever, mostly drinking. For a family orientated cruise drinking alcohol was greatly promoted. At ports, more time was spent getting to a Ship excursion then actual time available to enjoy it. Communications regarding when your transportation was returning to your ship & were to get that transportation was poor. Read Less

This is the 8th Disney cruise that the family has gone on. We’ve done 7 consecutive years around President’s Day weekend, and one Alaskan cruise. It’s difficult for me to assess whether or not the number of times we’ve gone has simply taken away from the overall experience, or if service has deteriorated a bit. First off, the ship is always in very good shape. It’s spotless. It’s appreciative that Disney takes such care in making sure that it’s ships look the way that they do. We commented about the Carnival ship that was docked at Port Canaveral, and how tired looking the ship looked. Different audience for sure, but I would think that you still want people coming back. We’ve been on the concierge level the past 5 or 6 cruises. It’s expensive for sure, but for us it’s worth not having to wait in some lines, and to essentially have our own concierge working for a select few. Allows for more time to do other things. The room on our level is always nice. The people who take care of our room have always been the best of the best. They certainly go out of their way to make sure that everyone is comfortable. Dining is another story. The servers are always polite, and suggestive. The food has gotten to be a little tired. Same menu year after year. They are always asking how the food and service is in the dining rooms. The service was good this year. It’s been better. Over time it just doesn’t feel as though the service is as warm as it’s been in the past. Again, not sure if we’ve reached the peak, and now there’s not much that Disney can do to provide the WOW that we had the first time we were on the ship. We choose Disney for the expereince(s) for the kids, and even that is getting a little tired (same shows, etc). We haven’t gotten off of the ship in Nassau for the past 3 years. We’ve done everything that we’ve wanted, so to me it’s not worth fighting the crowds. Five cruise ships docked in Nassau. As a result there are thousands of people that flock to Atlantis, which I’d be upset if I were staying there. To fight the crowds there isn’t worth the hassle anymore, and it’s already expensive to do anything over there. Disney’s private island is terrific. It’s always our favorite part of the cruise. We have reserved a cabana for the past several years. Again, something else that isn’t cheap, but it’s much more serene, especially as the kids get older. Plenty of activities on the island. Always a great day. We’ve decided not to “renew” our trip for next President’s Day. If we do go somewhere, via cruise, we’ll explore other cruise lines. Disney does a lot very, very well. Might be time to see what else is out there. Read Less

This cruise far exceeded my expectations and any other cruise I have ever sailed on. We departed from the Port of New Orleans on the Inaugural sailing on February 7, 2020. Our party was 3 adults- 2 adults and our 21 yr. old daughter. This was our first Disney cruise, though I have been to Disney World 64 times, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. We had a deluxe family verandah. The cabin was large and luxurious, larger than any balcony cabin on other lines. It was overflowing with storage space, we had 5 dressers, space in the closets, and lots of space under the beds. I liked the privacy curtain that closed off the sofa/sofa bed sleeping area from the main bedroom, as it gave our daughter privacy. The balcony was nice and large. The split bathrooms were great, and I appreciated the bathtub with a much larger shower. I loved the size of this ship, as it seemed to handle crowds really well, and never felt crowded. We had late dining, and really enjoyed it. Tianas Place was my favorite, I loved the live entertainment, the character interaction, and the food was divine! Animators Palate was great, but Tritons was my least favorite. We always had great food at Cabanas buffet, and the soft serve ice cream by the pool was another hit. The weather was a bit cool for the first 2 days, so we took advantage of the great movie theater and watched several movies. The theater was packed, but they had a great variety daily. We loved the different shows in the theaters , especially the Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams. Castaway Cay was stunning, and the weather was perfect. We went to the adults only beach, Serenity Cay, and really enjoyed Cookies, the beach buffet and BBQ there. We also stopped at Nassau, which is not one of my favorites. We did a day pass to Atlantis, which was fun. Key West was great, and we did the hop on/off conch train, which was a great way to see the island. Overall, I cannot recommend this cruise any more highly. I am already planning to sail from New Orleans again next year, and I don't know how I will sail with any other line than Disney, even though we are a party of adults only. Read Less

My 3 year old had the time of her life, but I was disappointed. The Disney Oceaneer club for kids was fantastic and the nursery was also good. The adult entertainment and activities were awful. The buffet was better than average, but the main dining room, Pinocchio's Pizza, and the grill was bad to mediocre. If you don't have a rewards status on Disney, you can forget about booking any specialty restaurants, any decent adult or alcohol-oriented activities. Most of the adult activities consisted of Disney trivia, pop music, and NPC pop culture. If you're not an NPC, you will be very dissatisfied. They can't even get ice cream cones right-these were cheapest and worse I've ever seen in my life. Another low point was the quality of the hamburgers on Castaway Cay in particular. It looked like it was microwaved and it tasted gamey and rotten. If you're over 18 and not a Disney fanatic, any other line is better-even Carnival. At least Carnival figured out how to make a good burger at Guy Burger joint and has decent pizza. The cabin and bed were nice. I'm finnicky about mattresses and rate the mattress as a 8.5/10. I liked that the shower and toilet are separated and each have their own sink/mirror combo-that's terrific for families. The pull down bed and couch worked well. The wood trim and furniture in the cabin rattled with ship vibrations and became such an annoyance when trying to sleep that I engineered paper shims to wedge into the woodwork. The cleanliness of the cabin left some to be desired-the nooks and crannies had not been cleaned recently. If you like to sleep in a cool cabin, you can forget about it. The AC was awful and at the lowest setting, the room might only be as cool as the rest of the ship. I woke up sweating several times during the cruise. A maintenance tech looked at it and said it was operating as designed. I enjoyed the fact that they don't have a casino and don't constantly try to sell you drinks. I also liked that they had an accessible soda fountain so you don't have to ask a crew member for a soft drink as on other lines. The internet was horribily underpriced. I understand that they have a profit motive, but charging for popcorn, candy, and soda to see decades-old Disney movies or charging $80-$250/GB for internet access is a bit over the top. The least they could do is free messaging for FB messenger and the like-as many airlines now do. The ship was nice, but the styling was conservative and a little dated. No real complaints about the ship itself other than the miniature elevators that were finnicky. The engines and propulsion were smooth and produced little noise and vibration. Read Less

My family and I were on the Disney Fantasy from January 18-January 25, 2020 2 adults, 2 children. First off our excursion in Cozumel got cancelled with no explanation as to why. Our second port/tender stop of Grand Cayman got cancelled but Royal Caribbean was able to tender their guests ashore. Our 3rd port stop of Falmouth Jamaica got cancelled. Other cruise lines were able to stop as well. We heard weather was the issue for some cancelled ports but that can not be true when other cruise lines were able to still tender or port. We found out that the Fantasy ship had engine problems since our first stop in Cozumel. Nothing was said to us on the ship. We sailed all week at a reduced speed. Never have been on a ship that had so much movement in my life as many are saying the ship swayed so much because of the engine problems. We found out through other cruisers that a dive team was working on the engine while we were actually able to make our scheduled stop at Castaway Cay. Which everyone finds hard to believe that it took us so long to get to Castaway because we gained so many hours from missed ports of call. We feel like Disney failed to keep guests happy and kept alot hidden on this vacation. Then to top it off we found out the next cruise going out today on the Fantasy January 25, 2020 is already receiving reimbursement for a changed port, not a cancelled port like we had all week. Also we understand this has happened before and credit/reimbursement was given and a discount on a future cruise. I am requesting reimbursement and I do not want a discount for a future cruise because we never plan to take a Disney Cruise ever again. We will continue to sail on other cruise lines where they are happy to keep their guests satisfied. We paid so much for no more extras than other cruise lines offer. Also the internet is terrible. We bought 4 large packages for $89 a piece. Other cruise lines we are able to buy one package with unlimited use. The food is terrible. It doesn't ever change. This is the only time I've ever been on a cruise and lost weight. The entertainment lacks for adults. The pools are way too small for the amount of people this ship had to accomodate for a cruise to nowhere. Also the cruise director Leslie Dallas lacks. She has been the most boring/uninteractive cruise director we have ever had. Some cruisers said she made a joke of our missed ports and terrible cruise. The daily itinerary is terrible and the things they added for the missed ports were "how to make apple struddels and pin trading." That is extremely sad. Read Less

I have never posted before. We just completed our 6th Disney cruise, and our 19th cruise overall. The Disney Fantasy has experienced consistent "technical" problems since it was damaged during Hurricane Sandy. These problems continue to plague the ship. Again, on the January 18-25 sailing of the Fantasy, technical problems were experienced which significantly impacted the enjoyment of the guests on board. In addition, this sailing was impacted by adverse weather. It is not because of the weather or necessarily the technical problems that I am writing. Disney's shipboard offering has significantly deteriorated. Royal Caribbean and Princess now provide better family activities and organized children activities. Disney's complaint resolution process is very poor and they have demonstrated they do not care about their guests. It is highly unlikely that we will never give Disney any of our money in the future, based on their lack empathy, honesty and poor guest experience. Had Disney's shipboard and land-based staff decided to deal openly, honestly and transparently with their guests, our opinion may be different. However, Disney executives decided to "write off" the experience and concerns of more than 2,500 guests. They don't care if you are a first time cruiser or a repeat cruiser. They just don't care any more about the customer experience. On the Jan 18th 2020 sailing of the Fantasy, there appears to have been significant staffing issues which resulted in a very poor guest service from the cruise director and her staff. Rather than be upfront, honest and transparent about the problems, the ship's captain lied to the guests onboard. We missed two ports of call (Grand Cayman & Falmouth) supposedly because of weather (though weather did not impact Royal Caribbean or Carnival at these ports), and many guests missed the "Star Wars Day at Sea" as they were sick in their staterooms because of the rockiness of the ship caused by the ship's technical problems. No management personnel were available onboard to address the concerns of guests, and since returning guest relations staff have sent one inaccurate, unapologetic, empathy-lacking "form" email. I spoke with a DCL Guest Correspondent, who sent the "form" email and she said that management had made a decision not to deal with the poor service on board or the disingenuous statements because they had determined that all concerns were weather related. This is not true. Hundreds of guests have tried to work through Disney customer service channels, including Mr. Vahle, the president of Disney Cruise Lines, but the only response received was the factually inaccurate "form" email and selected calls reading from the "weather" script. Disney apparently does care if you are a "social media influencer" as a number of such individual were scheduled for the January 25-February 1 on the Fantasy. Because of the technical problems experienced by the ship on our cruise, all guests on the Jan 25th cruise, likely because of the social influencers on board, were given $150 shipboard credit and a modified itinerary because of the Fantasy's technical problems and its inability to maintain speed causing the need to change ports. DCL management has acknowledge that there are more disgruntled guests from the January 18-25th sailing than is normal. This is a clear indication that there were problems far beyond weather. Management is trying to hide behind a weather narrative, when the real issue is how the ship's crew dealt with the guest experience issues caused by the weather and technical problems, and more importantly failed to deliver a quality product on board the ship. From my perspective, Disney has historically had a stellar reputation of a company that truly cares about providing top tier entertainment and experiences for its guests. Our experience last week has now exceedingly tarnished our view of Disney because of the lack of transparency, honesty and empathy. I understand that my family and I represent only eight guests, but more than 2,500 guests were adversely impacted. Many were on their "cruise of a lifetime". Disney Management doesn't care that many people saved for years and years to pay the premium charged by Disney. I do want to state that part of our cruise was excellent, clearly up to Disney standards. In particular the Food and Hotel side of Fantasy operations were top-notch. Our dinner servers and head waiter were excellent. Our stateroom host was also very, very good. It is the inaccurate, false and misleading information provided by the ship's captain, , and the Cruise Director, which have created the firestorm of disgruntled guests. Most importantly, the guest experience on this cruise was severely lacking compared to prior Disney cruises. In part, this was because of a lack of staff and a lack of Disney zeal from the staff that were in evidence. It could be that there was a crew illness (this is the most likely explanation for the lack of personnel and lack of planned activities and lack of "weather related' replacement activities)--but why not be honest and say so? For one of the few replacement events there were no Disney personnel in evidence, only the puppeteer performing (for the third time of five appearances). The lounge for his performance was so overcrowded that the coast guard would have fined Disney had they been aboard. The counselors at the children's Oceaneers club were not engaged. The shipboard entertainment was lacking in quality. Family activities, such as family karaoke, were scheduled at 10:45 pm at night rather than at 2 or 3 pm when families would have liked to attend. These are just some of the examples of the lack of service on this sailing. The lack of information during the cruise, and the misinformation provided after the cruise, exacerbated the problems and concerns which naturally occur when multiple ports are missed because of weather or other technical issues. The significant dissatisfaction of our family and most of the other 2,500 guests could have been avoided had the Captain, Cruise Director, and Disney land-based guest services staff been honest, empathetic and transparent. Just a few examples include: * the Captain sent a letter stating that we did not tender in Grand Cayman because of weather. Royal Caribbean did tender. We saw them. * The form email stated that the alternate location was on the other side of the island. Point of fact, it was 8km from the main port. No information was provided by the captain that it was Disney's choice not to tender--they could have; they just didn't, and didn't explain why. * the Captain announced that we could not dock in Falmouth because of weather. the Cruise Director said we would be sailing to a replacement port, Ocho Rios. We didn't stop at Ocho Rios and no information was provided as to why we did not stop. * The form email stated that conditions where not safe in Ocho Rios. Carnival did dock. Why was it safe for Carnival and not for Disney. Why did Captain Marco not explain what was going on? * Third party sources, and a Disney employee on a disney blog, stated that the Fantasy experienced technical problems on January 20th, before or after leaving Cozumel. The form email claims the technical problems occured on January 23rd and therefore did not impact the missed ports (supporting the weather narative used by management). If the January 23rd date is true, why was the ship delayed in arriving at Grand Cayman, then again delayed in arriving at Falmouth, then again delayed in arriving at Castaway Cay. * Third party sources show that the speed of the ship was 20% less than normal. Why did a technical issue that supposedly occurred on January 23rd, impact sailing speeds on January 21st and 22nd? * The form email stated that guests were not impacted by the technical issue, yet many guests were sick and could not participate in the Star Wars Day at Sea activities because of the rockiness of the ship. The cruise was marketed as a Star Wars cruise--why does an inability to participate in a key aspect of the cruise not impact a guest? * Why did the cruise directly crassly broadcast on the stateroom tv system that you should all be happy that you are getting off this ship. * Why were there less cruise activity staff in evidence on this cruise than on any other cruise we have taken on any cruise line? * Why were there not back-up activities scheduled to accommodate missing ports of call? * After two unexpected extra days at sea, why would you not show some gesture of empathy such as providing free popcorn for the movie, rather than the normal $ 10 price. Small things can create significant goodwill. Lack of transparency or empathy creates distrust. I could go on and on. The above items highlight the overall disengous response of Disney personnel, creating the lack of trust. The point is: DCL management appears to be totally supportive of a Captain and Cruise Director that do not meet Disney standards of honesty and care of the guest experience. This cruise did not meet Disney standards. I have never posted before--but if I were a member of management, I would want to know the real facts. I would want to have guests trust in Disney. At this point I am not looking for compensation, as our family has decided we cannot trust Disney and we will not pay the Disney premium again in the future. The dishonesty, obfuscation, poor on board entertainment and organization, poor child activities are the reason for our decision to no longer give our hard earned money to Disney; not the weather--weather is understandable. Weather does not, or should not impact staff actions. I find it sad that Disney apparently does not care about guests and chooses to blame the weather for a Captain who lacks honesty and transparency, a Cruise Director and her staff who cannot provide a Disney level onboard experience, and a PR operation that cares more about "social media influencers" than 2,500 guests who were not provided with an expected Disney experience. When trust is breached, it is difficult to rebuild. Unless you have money to burn and don't care about the ship board experience for you and your children, and you don't mind if technical problems with the ship cause you to miss expected ports, DON'T CRUISE WITH DISNEY. You will receive much better value and a much better family experience on other cruise lines. Read Less

Disney service always excels. Crew was great despite lots of extra work due to missed ports. Cabin was great, Star Wars Day at Sea was fun for kids and adults. Did our usual port arrival around 11:30am. Line for security was reasonable and no wait for check-in. Waited only about 10 min after check-in for our boarding group to be called. Love that Disney allows you to bring on beer or wine (we brought Truly's). We had the sit-down lunch in Animators Palate and headed up to pool deck. We were able to snag chairs and kids were off. Bags were delivered to cabin by 2p. Cozumel was great. Did our own excursion to Paradise Beach (highly recommend). Both Grand Cayman and Falmouth were missed due to weather. Despite other reviews, the weather issues were legit and the crew did try to get us in. I'd prefer to be safe despite some disapppointment. Daily Navigator was quickly updated with additional movies and drink tastings (our favorite) among other activities. even with recent price increases the Dr I k tastings are a good value and informative. Capt did a good job trying to find the sun and keep us out of rainshowers. Only saw Aladdin and Frozen shows which were excellent. Star Wars Day was fun with character interactions. I wish they'd show original trilogy movies in theater during the day not just the new ones. Fireworks at Sea are still great even if short (best view is deck 12, port side). Castaway Cay was great as always. It felt less crowded compared to our last time in the Fantasy which probably wasn't reality. We always go early and stay to the bitter end since it means vacay is almost over! Food in cabanas and other deck locations was good. wish they had shawarma like Magic and Wonder. don't forget the good pastries and finger desserts in Cove Cafe. Dinners were great. Loved our servers and made friends with table next to us. Ship was spotless. Kids always enjoy the kids club and my older one loved being able to go to Edge for the first time. We let them check themselves in and out and app have notifications, so we knew they were sticking to our plans. Silent DJ was a blast for both adults and family! disembarkation was fast after breakfast, no waiting for zones to be called and only brief delay at Customs. We piled into the rental car shuttle and were away within 15 min of stepping off ship. Disney hasn't yet figured out controlling the weather, but we still had a great time and it was like 20 degrees at home. We booked our placeholder if for no other reason to try and get back to our missed ports! Read Less

Our family and friends choose this cruise out of our nearby port of Galveston. We Grandparents are experienced cruisers (52x). This is NOT a luxury cruise, the young kids were not thrilled with the care centers, entertainment ok for kids but very poor for adults,and food was extraordinarily bland and unavailable. Very limited food available after a show for hungry kids waiting for late dining ( after he show they missed eating in the childcare and the pizza is closed and no buffet. What!!!?? dinner hours--any other cruise line ship has multiple options. Doors were rarely handicapped available or stroller friendly and on 2 occasions closed hard on me struggling with a stroller. Service was OK. My sister, a first time cruiser and unaware of UNPOSTED costs, ordered a smoothie which did not have a properly fastened lid and subsequently spilled all over her---the response at customer service was "we'll look into it". Yes, we finally got the charge reversed and 2 bags of popcorn as an apology after I addressed their response. On debarkation there are no comfortable waiting areas and the restrooms were non functional or out of toilet paper.. We immediately went to another cruise on Carnival Fascination (old and small) and it was an amazingly positive experience reminding us how bad Disney was. An apology for a delayed unwashed window was a bottle of wine. Food was extraordinary. Sorry for those who think Disney is good. Read Less

7 day cruise left us feeling left out and shorted for our money. Captain said winds were too high to port in Jamaica.... never tried again. 4 other cruises were able to port on the same day. So we literally were at sea for no reason missing out on what was promised. If he was able to dock in San Juan (terrible storm) he could have dock in Jamaica. Disappointed with not docking... disappointment with lack of internet.... disappointed with water bottle package... care team in kids department needed more experience when dealing with kids. However, loved the beds, loved the two bedrooms, loved the adult center! Won’t book a Disney Cruise again.... not worth the price if they can’t deliver! Probably wouldn’t have been so disappointing if we knew other cruiselines couldn’t have dock.... captain cared less that it ruined our trip. He is known for not trying and just making decisions. Read Less

Reasons why I loved this cruise: - amazing entertainment! - exceptional service! You cannot beat the Disney service- they always go out of their way to make your cruise magical. - beautiful ship - Castaway Cay is a stunning island...gorgeous adults only beach with a great BBQ lunch. - adults only areas on the ship are lovely and there was plenty of adult only entertainment! - Beauty and the Beast was a high quality production! It was better than many professional productions I have seen. - Trivia was offered ever day- super fun! -Bingo was very entertaining! - We loved seeing first run movies on the ship! Star Wars was great! - plenty of chairs in the adults only section of the ship - our dinner service staff was phenomenal- Richard and Miguel were the best servers we have had on a cruise! - Good food! And the theming is each restaurant is adorable! Read Less

We had three cabins one deck below Concierge level. Four adults, three children under 5. We, the grandparents have done about 30 cruises, never on Disney. It started off bad with enormous lineups as far as the parking garage as the check in computer system was down for over an hour. Small room, mattress one of those that when your spouse moved you moved up and down too. Barely queen size and my feet (I'm 6'3") hung off the end. They gave us three pillows to try, none worked. There is only one adults only bar with a view for cocktail hour but when we got there at 5 the two bartenders said we don't serve until 5:30, but we said our family dinner is at 5:45, too bad, so sad. The noise of hundreds of kids at dinner time is unbearable. In 7 days we did not have one main course that was edible. Denny's would be better quality and better tasting food. We had a poor location for our table the first night and complained to the Maitre D, he didn't care. We asked for a window table the second night, got one in the entrance as far from a window as possible. The serving staff and room cleaner were exceptionaly good, but the food was awful. For our Caymans stop we had to tender in. I had an early meeting on the island and to avoid stress, I wanted a tender ticket for the first tender. Neither guest services nor port activites cared one bit, just said line up an hour before we arrive. Castaway Cay the Captain told us the wind was too strong to dock. Really, Disney bought an island and built a ship that can't handle the prevailing Caribbean strong winter winds. It was apparent they should have built the breakwater another 500 feet out to sea and built some wind protection on it. Fabulous cruise for kids, but no Disney magic for adults. Read Less

We chose this itinerary because it fit within the kids' school vacation so it wasn't necessarily chosen due to the itinerary. We don't generally enjoy stopping in Nassau so we treated it as an "at sea" day and stayed on the ship. Unfortunately with Nassau, a LOT of people do this so the ship is still pretty crowded if its a full sailing. Our server team was one of the best teams we have had on any sailing with Disney (and all of our teams have been great). We really enjoyed them. We had a great time on the short trip getting to know them. This was our first trip (of our 5 Disney cruises) with a verandah and we really enjoyed having it as a place to relax. I wouldn't say its a "must have" on future cruises but we definitely will do it when its affordable now. Our teens especially liked having a quiet place away from the pool deck craziness. My husband did several drink tastings and LOVED those experiences. The bar staff was incredible! This cruise was our "Grand Slam" cruise so we have now been on all 4 ships. Across the board, although we liked this ship, we generally like the Magic and Wonder more. Things we do like better on the Dream: 1) mini golf - we love having the courses on the Dream and Fantasy, 2) the bar area is MUCH better on the Dream than on the Fantasy because it doesn't have the weird round bar room where they try to do family activities but no-one can see, 3) The movie theater has better seating, and 4) the workout room is bigger. All that said, there were many things we don't like as much on the Dream and would cause is to pick either the Magic or Wonder if given the choice. 1) Several decks have no way to go from one end of the ship to the other which means that there are huge traffic bottlenecks on the ship. It makes the ship (and the Fantasy) much harder to navigate. 2) If you are staying aft (as we typically stay mid to aft), the elevators on the 11th floor aft empty directly into Cabanas. This is frustrating if you don't want to go to Cabanas and are trying to just get to that floor. It also means that there is tons of unneeded traffic flowing through what is already a quite conjested spaces at the height of breakfast and lunch. 3) There were no family trivia games on the entire 3 night sailing. We love the trivia games and go to most of them, but our teens also love them. This sailing did not have a single family trivia game. We brought our teens to a few adult ones that were held during times when the bars aren't restricted for age since they are older, but missed those trivia times. 4) they seem to have scheduling issues on this sailing. They were late starting several adult events. for example schedule said 1pm and no one was there at 1pm, and then they eventually showed up at 130pm.. made it difficult to plan and participate. 5) We really missed the Promenade lounge (French Quarter Lounge on Wonder now). This is one of our favorite places to hang out before the main seating dinner and we loved doing activities in this lounge on the Magic and Wonder. We really missed this on the Fantasy and Dream. There is really no comparable space for adults and kids to hang out together on the ship. 6) because the Dream's itineraries are so short, there don't seem to be any variety acts on board like on the other ships. We really missed that. Last critique I'd have is that we were on board right after the Last Jedi came out so Frozen 2 and Last Jedi were pretty much the only movies showing. (there was like one showing of Maleficient at midnight or something). We were actually pretty excited about seeing the Last Jedi a second time, but they showed Frozen 2 during all of the "normal hours" and pretty much only showed Jedi while we were in port or late at night. It would have been really nice to have a daytime showing. Athough I liked the original Frozen, I'm Frozen-ed out due to all of the hype around it, and my boys are definitely over it. It just would have been nice to have a more boy-friendly movie showing at some normal times of the day. Maybe if you have two blockbusters both new, show a few showings of one in the Walt Disney Theater so people can choose. In general, I really wish they would have some variety of films i the theater. The first run films are great but there are tons of classic Disney films and I'd love to see some of those in the theater. Or I'd settle for not just two films for the entire cruise. Surely it could be mixed up a bit? Read Less

This was my 2nd Disney cruise and my 3rd time cruising. The last Disney cruise was to Alaska on the Wonder, and it was the best vacation ever! So I made a prepayment and couldn't wait to go on another Disney cruise again. Well, this latest cruise would only rate a 6 out of 10. Avoid rooms that have an adjoining interior door with the neighboring room, such as 1050 and 1052. My neighbors had an absolutely annoying kid who looked about 3 years old. Every single day and night, that cried and yelled, and coughed, usually around 7am, once in the afternoon as I tried to nap, and once at 11:30pm. The husband would yell at the kid, and even talking, they had to be loud. I complained to guest services but the lady said all the rooms were booked, so we could not be moved to another room. She told me I could dial 0 if they got too loud and mgt could talk to the family. We got 2 bags of popcorn and rice krispie treats as an apology for this lousy family being next door. I wouldn't say the cruise was ruined but this greatly diminished my enjoyment as every day I was cranky and sleep deprived. The other main negative was the extreme rockiness of the ship. The Alaskan cruise was very serene so I expected a similar seasick-free experience. Nope. Every night the ship swayed so much that you could see drinks shaking on the dinner tables and holiday wreaths swinging on the walls. It felt awful and gave me a headache one night. Weather was not warm enough. It rained on the day we stopped in the Bahamas and the water at castaway cay was very cold. It started raining that early afternoon and all the day's excursions were canceled due to wind. It only got hot enough for us to venture into a pool on the afternoon the day before leaving. However, soon after that, a kid defecated in the pool so everyone had to get out and it was unusable the rest of the day. The toilet in our room smelled mildly of old urine. I wiped down and tried washing all around the surfaces but could never get rid of the smell, but I didn't have the heart to tell the Filipino man who was our room attendant. Hair dryer was old and grimy from so many hands touching it-- gross. Pillows were lumpy and there was old grime in the corners of the bathroom; if I go again, I will only go on newer ships. Carpet in main areas, bench near theater were worn out. Cabanas seating was jam packed. Many food portions at dinner were so small it was laughable. Salmon one night tasted like burnt plastic, and the lemon pie seemed overbaked and tasted bad. My child had a hamburger that was dry and reminded me of cheap hamburgers from my public school cafeteria. All the cakes were dry and spongey. Cutlery is all big and heavy, not right for little kids to deal with. The coffee is watery, cheap drek in worn plastic mugs, unless you shell out more money for the cafe. I felt nickeled and dimed (or dollared?!) when we were charged for popcorn and a tiny cup of juice near the theaters, and of course you feel obligated to tip the poor 3rd world staff on top of it all. The photo package was something like $250 for the smallest package-- pass! I didn't get suckered into spa services but those prices are crazy too. Ok, good aspects: my kid loved the kid's club and kept wanting to go. Some if the food was excellent, like the soups and salads at dinner. Mashed potatoes, pizza, fries, soft serve ice cream are tasty. Service was mostly excellent although the servers kept taking our cutlery away as they cleared dishes. We wound up eating with soup spoons or even a knife. The shows were the best. Tangled and the John Cassidy show were surprisingly much better than I anticipated. Even my kid sat through them. Castaway Cay was beautiful and the lunch buffet was delicious. I wish we had 2 days there instead of the overly touristy/grimy Bahamas stop. Views from the ship were awesome. The tour of the ship for adults was interesting. Embarking and disembarking were pretty smooth. The cruise helps you check in your luggage and gives you boarding passes the night before, which was great so we didn't have to drag luggage around the next day. The Disney shuttle to the airport was nice and quick, with a video ad to make the time fly by. One other thing to keep in mind is that cruising during Xmas, a lot more people are sick. In addition to the constantly crying and coughing kid next door, everywhere we went on the ship, people were coughing. It's pretty off putting to be in a crowded theater as someone's hacking near you. So in the future, I will avoid cruising during cold and flu season. The last day, my obnoxious neighbors had their alarm clock going off at 5:40am for at least 10 minutes. I felt like throttling them. After a whole day at the airport, we returned tired, heavier, and still feeling like the rooms are swaying. It was an ok experience this time that I will not repeat. I don't recommend this particular time/itinerary/ship. Read Less

Family wanted to experience this hyped up sailing thinking it would be extra special, it was special all right because the inflated price never justified the offering. The only amazing stand out were the cabin was immaculate even though toiletries were gravely downgraded, and the stateroom hosts were exceptional. David Johnson in concierge was impeccable, understated warmth with great communication skills and demeanor. Embarkation this sailing was a nightmare. People everywhere and the security lines wrapped into the parking garage and then the snaked the lines in there, lots of people being pulled aside for bringing prohibited items on board, just disorganized and frustrating, not a great way to start a sailing. They need to go over to RCCL and check out how they embark, hopefully when they close the terminal in June 2020 they upgrade it to make embarkation less of a circus. In a nutshell more security options to move things along. Food on board was just okay, the fast food deck 11 options were tasteless, if you have sailed DCL before you have previously experienced the MDR menu options, never hot and while pretty presentation either too salty or very little taste, server was fantastic but his helper wore so much cologne you could almost taste that! Stateroom hosts were the best, the kindest pair of people, loved seeing and interacting with them. Mercedes and Eric always smiled and greetings were the norm not the exception. Our stateroom was always beautiful, clean and welcoming. Everything was in working order and the hallway and room were very quiet. First run movies were available on board in the movie theater and one night in the main theater, we appreciated this as we waited to see Frozen 2 and Star Wars on the ship, the movie theater was comfortable albeit very packed every time we went. The offerings in the main theater were the same as always so if you sailed the Dream before like we have it was boring, we went night one to experience the new cruise director hired from MSC cruise line, he tried to be on the funny side but he came across as trying super hard, he and Ann his partner delivered their messages but we did not enjoy them, not very polished and not fun to watch. Ann was more enjoyable though then Stephen the CD. Activities on board were few and far between and with so many people on board any offering was so crowded it was hard to enjoy except the "race your baby" presentation. While crowded with the 3 decks we were able to get excellent viewing and this was the funniest thing Disney does in our opinion. I laughed and cheered so much I had tear in my eye's, this was the highlight activity for us. Note: While the theme of *Pirate night on Christmas we felt was not good planning, the fireworks were amazing and beautiful, we could watch right from our private stateroom balcony which was a highlight of this sailing. Strangely DCL so concerned with being green (paper straws etc.) yet they fully print all of your photos on board to look through for purchase, this we though was a true waste of all things related to the activity. To review your photos you had to be directed to a folder that had all of your pics there, what a true waste of paper, so sad. *Many different people so many Holidays celebrated yet Pirate night on Christmas was disgusting and wrong in our opinion. The characters were only once in holiday related outfits that day (early) but to enjoy them you had to miss a lot of time on their private island, the best part of sailing DCL and the weather was so warm and sunny! "Say Cheese" photo opportunity Pluto was sent as the naked dog that he is, could you not place a red bow tie on him? I expected joy, what a huge let down. When questioned we were told Disney didn't want to offend anyone, what? Just terrible, don't charge inflated pricing and then present mundane and ordinary. Disney dropped the ball big time. Never again will they see another penny from this family. 4 night sailing and we had minimal luggage yet after placing new luggage out the last night upon debarkation an entire wheel was missing at pick up, just awful. Elevators packed and the cruise director and partner came across as the B team, hard to watch or listen to. To add insult to this sailing the concierge lounge was packed, inundated by people allowing others in who had not paid for the amenity thus making the lounge quite unruly and uncomfortable. Goodbye DCL we know you don't care but we do, so our monies will be spent elsewhere. Full disclosure our last two cruises with DCL were also diminished experiences but we had this one booked so instead of cancelling we thought maybe they would redeem themselves, nope, nada, not a chance. DCL will never run out of 5 year olds so in our opinion they just stopped trying. Read Less

This was our 3rd Disney Cruise. We love the family-oriented mindset of Disney and choose these cruises because we want a safe experience for our family. On this Merrytime Christmas Cruise we were onboard for the entire week of Christmas and it was a really fun time for all of us. Many of our expectations we met or exceeded and as always, the crew and service were exceptional. There were a few considerations that almost ruined the trip for us however. First was the photography. It is a contracted service called "Shutters" and is nothing like the great photo experience offered in the parks. This group seems entirely concerned with making money although the fact that they print out every photo taken (pictures that nobody wants) seems to defeat their purpose. The photo opportunities are great but they do not allow families to link their room keys to compile all the photos. We had 4 staterooms so they wanted us to pay the $200 4 times! Even though we made sure that we used the same room card every time for every photo, they still found ways to prevent the photos from showing up in our album. We spent hours going through the photo banks trying to find some of our precious photos, only to find that there was really no reason that they hadn't been added to our collection. One of the reasons we booked the cruise was to get some great family photos of a rare moment when every family member was present. We were very disappointed with the outcome. Why can't Disney use the same photo plan on the ships that they use in the parks? Second problem was communications. In this day and age we expect much more than old technology and non-intuitive equipment. The WAVE phones they provide are so hard to figure out that we didn't even use them on the first two cruises. This time my tech-savvy son took the time to figure them out (with several calls for help) and we tried to use them. We found them bulky, difficult to keep charged, and of course totally useless for communicating with out deaf kids. For that, we utilized the App which allows texting "chats" but limits how many people can be in a group and has the frustrating propensity to drop the people in your group. We hungered to be able to use simple WIFI communication but of course that is spotty and extremely expensive to use onboard. Without the ability to easily communicate, we were often upset and several times missed opportunities to do things together as a family. This is something that Disney should address. Now that I have complained about the two things that seriously pained me, please let me take a moment to tell you what Disney does well. Number 1 has to be the variety and pleasantness of the service staff. We have been so impressed with how these people make every effort to make our experience fun and memorable. The Disney idea of having the wait staff travel with us to each meal gave us the opportunity to learn about and make friends with some truly charming young people, and our room steward was as cute as he could be. The food onboard is not gourmet, but the atmosphere is a lot of fun and the kids are overjoyed to be able to get pizza and ice cream on their own as well as being able to order room service by themselves. The characters make everything more fun especially when they unexpectedly appear. We loved taking photos of the grand-kids with them. We aren't greatly impressed with Castaway Cay as we expected more of a village with shopping and eating opportunities but the kids enjoyed swimming in the ocean. As far as entertainment goes, some of the offerings get old after multiple sailings but I have to say that Beauty and the Beast was very professionally done and we all loved it. We had no problems with the embarkation or the disembarkation but we did have quite a bit of damage with out luggage as others have noted. Our cruising experience was amazingly calm until the very last night. The captain warned us it would be a bit rough but none of us realized how nauseating a little rough can be. That has never happened before but it is something we will be prepared for in the future. Will we sail with Disney again? Yes. Do we hope they will take our comments to heart and fix the things that need attention? Yes. We hope others who cruise with Disney will have as much fun as we did. We had a great Christmas together and made some good memories. Read Less

This was our 3rd Merrytime cruise, as cruising over Christmas has become our tradition, however this year might be our last. The quality of DCL is clearly slipping. The Magic is dated, showing many signs of wear from the room to the pool. The dining staff at dinner works so hard, they are in constant rapid motion. It seems they are short staffed, forced to cover more tables per server than should be humanly possible, so clearly over worked but rising nightly to the occasion. The chaos it creates is overwhelming and makes it difficult to catch the attention of your server at dinner because they are constantly dashing between their assigned tables, to the kitchen to grab food / give orders and back. Even if I could locate them, the clear stress they were under, and sense of overwhelm in the room made me feel guilty asking for anything. On other (not DCL) cruises I’ve been on the dinner time experience was calm, relaxing, and the servers were assigned a more reasonable number of tables. My children have special needs and the chaos / noise in the room was too much for them, so they were often agitated and upset at dinner, unable to eat. I did learn toward the end of the cruise that Cabanas (the buffet) was open for a sit down dinner outside of this assigned dining that was much calmer and more enjoyable - it also creates more flexibility in terms of timing if you need to eat earlier for the kids one day. I’d recommend that instead. Having the characters around the boat is always so much fun for the kids, this team of characters was the best of our 3 cruises, and most patient with my special needs kiddos. We love the nightly family dance parties as this is something we often do at home too, however they really should relocate the photographers so they are not in the middle of the dance floor getting frustrated with little dancers who have wandered toward the posed families in front of the backdrops. Being our third cruise, the same musicals are getting a bit old, I wish they would add some new ones or mix it up! The pirate party was magical, as was the tree lighting and goodbye ceremony - I wish they could be a bit earlier to accommodate the kiddos as a 10pm start is late for most kids! But the most shockingly terrible part was the spa. I regularly get messages and this was the absolute worst experience I’ve ever had. The massage ‘therapist’ could not have had ANY advanced training in massage. At first I laid there questioning myself, it can’t really be this bad right? Am I overreacting? Maybe it will get better? It didn’t. It kept getting worse and the experience was making me so anxious I was starting to itch and break into hives. She applied WAY too much oil, so much so that it was uncomfortable and made her rushed touch feel like a tickle - contributing to the overall feeling of the massage being rushed and sloppy. She was moving so fast that it was the opposite of relaxing. When I asked her slow down (twice!) she responded by using even less pressure like she was confused what I was asking. I did the hot stone massage... a few other highlights included her ramming the stones into my hip bones and attempting to rub the stones into my shoulder bones. I ended up leaving half way through because it was so awful and they still tried to charge me! No one ever followed up after the ordeal to see what happened. I’ve had regular massages at home and at various resorts over the years - I am pretty easy to please... never have I had an experience like this. As others have said, it goes seem that the quality of a Disney Cruise is slipping, they are cutting costs / corners and it’s very evident. It may no longer be worth a higher price for a DCL Cruise. Time to explore other options! Read Less

For 1, the people were GREAT they are very sweet and make you your #1 priority All foods are good dinner good lunch good breakfast good room service is the best and day care or youth clubs for kids and teenagers is the best program I was in edge and Vibe and they treated me great and showed me around the show and play is a must if you want to be blown away me a 14 year old loved all plays you will love this cruise the basketball court is open 24/7 and don’t play like 5 hours a day because then you won’t be able to walk like me Read Less

Sailed in December with my two 16 year old sons. We were in Concierge Class. This gave us several benefits. Personally escorted onboard to Concierge Lounge and skipped all embarkation lines. We did have to wait a while for bus from Orlando Airport to the dock, but once at the ship we flew onboard. Concierge Lounge is very nice and always had nice snacks available. Concierge class also seemed to give us really good tables in main dining rooms. The food on Disney Dream was very good, but I would not rate it outstanding. Often the food in the main dining rooms , while very tasty, was served lukewarm...certainly never hot. I prefer hot food. I did dine for Brunch in Palo and this was an excellent first class dining experience. If sailing Disney, I strongly recommend dining in Palo (or Remy) as much as possible! Unfortunately, you have to over age 18 to book Palo and Remy so my sons could not join me. I think the Disney ships are great for younger kids, but not so great for teenagers age 14 to 17. Many things that teenagers would like to do are not allowed since you have an age 18 barrier. Service in our cabin was excellent. Service in main dining room was OKAY, but did seem rushed. Service in Palo could not be beat. Excellent entertainment onboard. Broadway quality production of Beauty and the Beast. We also got to see the new Star Wars movie the same day it premiered in USA. Castaway Key is very good, but not as nice as some other private islands....HAL's Half Moon Cay is better. Overall Disney Dream is a fine cruise experience. Great attention to a lot of little details. However, the less then perfect food, crowded at times deck areas, and rushed dining room service prevent me from giving it an excellent rating. Read Less

Overall the cruise was great, a few improvements could be made, I'll get to that later. Disney truly goes above and beyond with customer service! It was my granddaughter's first cruise and her first trip out of Canada without her mother (my daughter) due to severe food allergies. To put things in context, she's unable to have restaurant or take-out experiences back home for fear of cross-contamination and a trip to the ER. This is where Dumitri comes in, who made the entire trip magical for us. He convinced me the first time we sat down for a meal that Disney does understand food allergies and takes them very seriously. Due to his diligence, attention to detail, and overall desire to make this an incredible experience, my 6 year old granddaughter was able to eat every meal without fear of becoming sick. She was so impressed that she's decided we should either move onto the ship or we should take Dumitru home with us! Thank you Dumitru; as a result of your dedication, this will be the first of many trips with the Disney brand. Items that could use improvement: 1) My granddaughter and I were disappointed the Disney characters weren't more available/accessible to kids. If you wanted to see any of them, you had to line-up at designated times and areas...which meant the line-ups were long. I've gone to Disney World a few times and I was expecting characters to be walking around on the ship for kids to interact with. 2) The waiting time to be served in the restaurants was way too long for kids. I thought the wait was due to our particular situation with food allergies, but when I spoke to other families on board, they expressed the same comment. Read Less

Our family are huge Disney Cruise fans as we've been on both the Disney Dream & Fantasy. For the holiday, we've decided to book a 4 nights cruise on the Disney Wonder from Galveston...and we're sad to say it was a huge disappointment. Our party consisted of myself, my significant other, our 5 years old daughter and 2 years old son. Prior to cruising Disney's smaller and older ship, we've been told that some preferred the smaller ships over the bigger ones because the staff & crew are more attentive, etc. However, from our experience, it was the exact opposite. The exceptional service that Disney was well-known for was almost non-existent on our trip. Below are some of our experiences on the Disney Wonder: Day 1 - Our dinner for the first night was Animator's Palate and we were told it would be the highlight of our cruise. It was a disaster! We had to wait 20 minutes for the Assistant Server to come with our water. After filling our cups with water, he didn't even bother asking us if we wanted something else to drink. I had to catch him before he took off and asked if our kids can get some apple juice. At this point, our kids were beginning to get fussy because they were bored and hungry. I had to walk up to one of the server and asked for crayons so they can color their menus (which is also a mini activity book). On our previous trips with Dream & Fantasy, crayons would already be at the table when we arrived. After ordering our drinks, we had to wait an additional 10 minutes for our drinks to arrive. And all this time, we were not offered a menu to look at and our main Dining Server was nowhere to be found. After a good 30 minutes after arriving, we were finally presented with a menu and was allowed to order. The food tasted terrible, not on the same caliber as the Animators Palate on the Fantasy. We were upset and shocked at the service we've received and wished we would've just done room service or quick food service instead. Day 2 - The Princess Gathering was unorganized and chaotic. They did not hand out the tickets like on the Dreams or Fantasy so people who did not sign up ahead of time was still able to line up for pictures. Dinner on the 2nd night was much better than the first night - they didn't take 30 minutes to come and get our order, but we still couldn't get over how inattentive and disengaged both our main server and assistant server were. On our previous cruises on the Fantasy, if you've ordered a Sprite on the first day, the next day when you showed up, a Sprite is magically already at the table waiting for you. This time on the Wonder, they could careless what you likes/dislikes are...hell, they didn't even know my son is allergic to diary although I've disclosed this on our reservation. The only thing that we enjoyed actually enjoyed at dinner was the food and show at Tiana's. Day 3 - We ate at Palo for dinner but was unimpressed with the service as well. Our server was nice but the way she carried herself made us felt like we were eating at Applebees and not a fine dining restaurant. She was very casual..which was ok but it was not something you would expect from a "fine dining" experience. Unfortunately, we didn't get to finish our meal at Palo because the Nursery called and asked that we picked up our son. They claimed he had diarrhea but we questioned this because he went #2 when we got back to our stateroom and it was normal. He was not running a fever and seemed completely fine. Apparently, a couple of parents was also pulled from Palo because their kid had the runs as well. We were instructed to bring our son to the Medical Center before they could take him again. We were hoping to have him cleared quickly so we could grab dinner since we barely ate. But come to find out, the Medical Center was closed (this was about 6:30pm)...something the Nursery should've told us before we tried making our way there. The staff at the Nursery was giving all of the parents an attitude as well. Our son, of course, was cleared the next day but we cancelled our reservation with the Nursery based on their lack of professionalism and at that time we've just had enough. Day 4 - For our last night, we dined at Triton's and their food had to be the worst on our trip. Triton's menu was the exact same as the Royal Palace on the Disney Fantasy but the quality and taste at Triton's was way sub-par. Even after 4 days, both our servers were inattentive and never once interacted with our kids. We've been ordering hot dogs for our son, who's allergic to diary, for almost every night. If we were on the Fantasy, there would be hot dogs for my son at the table as soon as we arrived. But on the Wonder, we had to wait for more than 20 minutes while the placed the order with the kitchen (although we made it known that he loves hot dogs and would be happy to be eating it for every dinner). Conclusion: If we could go back in time, we would rather book Fantasy rather than Wonder. We only cruised Wonder because we live in Texas and the port of Galveston was much more convenient. But our experience was so bad, we would be willing to do the extra traveling to Florida for our next cruise. The only good experience we've had on the Wonder was Tiana's Restaurant, their shows, and our Stateroom Host. Read Less

It was our first cruise as a family and my 12 loves Disney the rest of us are fans but not as much as she is. The ship was very nice the rooms were nice and the pull out bunk beds were ok , the top bunk had a picture of peter pan which was a nice add on. The dining was a little better than average but we don’t have a fancy palate so anything would have been fine we had been leaving tips for the servers each night but they were still charging us separately each night. We had to work things out with guest services, but in the end everything worked out. The buffet was nice for lunch and the food shacks were a nice quick way to get a meal. I liked how they had a soft drink dispenser available to refill, however anytime you would want to get a drink without paying for it you would have to go all the way to the top deck. You should definitely bring refillable cups ti make it convenient so it won’t run out so fast. The entertainment was targeted towards the kids but if you are a big fan of Disney you will enjoy them. The character meetings were nice but on the last day of the cruise the seas were so rough the camera people had to sit down in between each picture and for “rare” characters like tinker bell the lines were enormous. I recommend getting the Disney cruise line app so you can like the events you want to go to and it will notify you ahead of time so you can get in line early.There are lots of crafts and trivia for the adults, but for the older kids there wasn’t really anything to do so we spent most of the time either in our cabin or at the pool. The pools were nice the family pools have a movie playing and on the other side of the ship there are water slides that aren’t too big for the little ones to enjoy. We booked a port adventure through Disney and overall it was good my kids seemed to enjoy it, however they wouldn’t allow us to take pictures. This cruise was amazing for our first time according to my 12 year old, but I wouldn’t recommend the cruise if you aren’t a big fan of Disney and are older than 18 and don’t have little ones. Read Less