DH and I took DDs 16 & 13 on our 3rd DCL cruise our 5th overall. It was our first on the Dream. We had sailed on the Wonder and Magic which were wonderful. I was less pleased with this one, but admit intervening events may be influencing me somewhat.
Our last cruise was on HAL 3 yrs ago and the kid's club was a joke. The girls begged us for another DCL. We weren't sure they'd still feel that way as they got older, but I read about the new teen clubs so jumped on a 5 day double dip for spring break. It seemed perfect that we actually found a double dip when the kids didn't have to miss school. I booked it 18 mos. out and kept it a secret from them till we flew out. It was funny each time they're chins were low and they'd say they wished they could go on the new Dream. In my overly organized way, I had everything planned and appreciate all the advice from the Dis boards. We've had a very stressful year so I wanted to just relax on the trip and not have to rush or do things last minute.
Everything seemed to be working out till Delta changed our carefully arranged flights. Thanks to Dis board advice I called and got a better one. Then I got a better deal on the rental car. We got a mini-van from Budget and it worked out cheaper to park it at Park & Cruise for 5 days.-Thanks again. About a month ago our DD16 started having almost constant migraines and my own lasted 10 days. I had my neck adjusted and did much better, but she couldn't get relief. We got new meds a few days before we left and hoped we could relax and enjoy the trip. Then I noticed on the Dis boards folks reporting the pirate night was listed wrong on the DCL website. I wanted Palo that night and had reserved it the first night bookings opened. Of course it was fully booked now. The agent was shocked when I told her the site was wrong and said, " We will get that changed right away!" (It's still wrong weeks later!" ) She was very kind and stayed on hold 30 mins. to talk to Guest services about getting us switched. She said they were full, but would do all they could for us. Well, that turned out to be NOTHING but a message saying we should check the website for cancellations. 'Why didn't I think of that?'
9579 was a great cabin for size and split bath. It had plenty of storage space and no ship noises. We didn't have any noise from the connecting stateroom either and it was very convenient to midship elevators. However, the hallway was too noisy from kids runnng or people talking loudly at all hours.